Without Mercy
by AmJay5785
Summary: Elizabeth is accused of a crime that she didn't commit, reestablishing an old friendship when Jason vow's to help her at any cost. Complete!
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** I know that I am crazy for starting yet another story. But I have this one planned out and it is going to be a short one. I watched GH yesterday, and I was just so annoyed with everything that was going on with Sam(she honestly gets under my skin) that this came to mind and I had to write it. This takes place after Mondays (3-13-06) episode.

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**Part One**

The sight of Alexis Lansing made her sick.

Sam could swear that the woman lying before her on the hospital bed, had entered her life just to make it a living hell. Sam couldn't remember a time since she met Alexis that the woman didn't find a way to ruin her life. It all started when Alexis had called Sam to the stand for Carly and Sonny's custody battle over the boys. The evil woman berated her on the stand, calling her a whore, letting the entire town know about her past as a prostitute. At the time, Sam was falling for Sonny, and for Alexis to bring up her past in front of the mobster had made Sam furious. She knew from that moment on that she hated the attorney.

But it wasn't until Alexis killed her child that Sam began to have murderous thoughts about the older woman.

She had screamed at Sam, practically forced her into labor which then caused her to lose her child. It didn't matter that Dr. Steven Webber assured them all that no matter what happened with Alexis, it was Sam's condition is what caused her child's death. But Sam knew better. Alexis was the reason her baby girl had died, which was ironic since Sam just found out that Alexis was her birthmother, making her the child's grandmother.

She had killed her own grandchild.

Alexis had sworn to Sam that she was in debt to her forever. But when the woman had the chance to prove her words, she backed out once again, choosing to be the selfish bitch Sam knew she was. Sam's brother Danny was dying from the virus and she had the chance to refuse the antidote which would then be given to Danny. Alexis had the chance to save Danny's life which wouldn't make up for Sam's baby's death, but it would lessen the hate Sam had for the older woman.

But she didn't do it.

Alexis took the antidote, Danny died, and then Sam was left with nothing.

She hated Alexis with every fiber of her being.

Her hands clenched at her sides with the need to strangle the woman who was lying unconscious before her on the hospital bed. It would be sweet victory for Sam to just wring the woman's neck, killing her. Her hands even inched up a bit in the process of taking Alexis's neck between her hands, but the beep of the heart monitor stopped her from going through with it.

There was no doubt that she was going to kill Alexis, the bitch deserved it, but she had to think about it first. She didn't want to get caught so she couldn't leave any evidence behind. There would be no doubt that if she strangled the woman, all evidence would point back to her.

Instead of giving into her urge to kill Alexis just yet, Sam continued to stare down at her with a look of hatred and murder. She couldn't believe that the woman who made her life a living hell was actually her mother.

Alexis was her birth mother and she gave her up for adoption. A bitter smile formed on Sam's lips at the thought. Here, lying before her, was the woman who claimed to be a loving mother. Every horrible thing she did to Sam she claimed it was because of her children. She killed Sam's baby because she needed Kristina to live, she killed Danny because she needed to be there for her girls when they grew up.

She wanted to be the perfect mother to her children, which Sam knew was a lie since she didn't even care about her first little girl twenty-five years ago.

Sam thought back to the moment that she let Alexis know who her long lost daughter was. Jason had warned her not to tell Alexis, he said there was no reason to bring Alexis into their lives more than she was. But Sam didn't care. She wanted to make Alexis pay. Sam was blinded by revenge and didn't care what Jason had told her. She was going to make sure that Alexis knew who her daughter was, and then Sam was going to return the favor and make Alexis's life a living hell.

A sadistic smile appeared on Sam's face. She just didn't think that she was going to be able to pay Alexis back so quickly.

Jason was busy with business making it was easy for Sam to leave the penthouse unnoticed. She had plans of going to Alexis's apartment and confronting her there, but she didn't have to go so far. Alexis was walking on the dock's, probably on her way to her children, when Sam caught up with her.

The encounter started off like any other. Sam berated the woman for defending Manny when he was on trial. Alexis tried to get away, but Sam wouldn't allow it. She made sure that her words were like a knife easing into Alexis very slowly. Alexis's tears didn't sway her. Her tears actually made Sam go further, sticking that knife in more and more.

She screamed at Alexis for killing her baby, letting a rapist free, killing her brother, and just about anything else horrible that happened in her life since she met the woman. Alexis was so distraught over Sam's words that she kept backing further and further away from her, which brought her closer and closer to the edge of the docks. Sam could tell that Alexis was having a panic attack by the way she clutched her chest and gasped for air, but Sam didn't care.

She was blinded by fury and wouldn't give up until she pushed that knife in all the way, and the only way to do it was to let Alexis know that she was her long lost daughter. For an entire minute Alexis didn't move once Sam told her, she just stood there motionless, not wanting to believe what Sam had said, and Sam took great pleasure in the shock she gave the woman.

And then, Alexis tried to take a step towards her, apologizing as tears streamed down her face, and that pissed Sam off more than anything. Full blown rage seeped through Sam's body and with a final shout; she planted her gloved hands over Alexis's chest and shoved the woman, telling her how much she hated her.

Alexis tried to get her balance, but instead of falling into the water, she slipped on the dock, landed on her arm at a very odd angle and then rolled into the water. Sam heard the crack of a bone and also saw Alexis hit her head against the wooden docks. When she fell in, Sam looked over the edge to see if the woman would resurface, begging her for her help. But the waters were calm, Alexis wasn't trying to save herself. She was knocked unconscious.

With that bit of information, a smile crossed Sam's face and she walked away without a backwards glance.

It wasn't until later that evening that Jason told her about Alexis's accident and how she was now at General Hospital, still unconscious. Sam acted neutral about the subject, but deep down she was fuming with anger. Alexis wasn't supposed to live, she should have drowned earlier.

Jason left the penthouse again on more business, and Sam ended up where she was now. Standing over Alexis's bed, whishing the woman would rot in hell for everything she had done.

Sam knew she didn't have much time left before Ric came back. He had been sitting by Alexis's side when she arrived, but when he received a call from the nanny telling him that he needed to come home and soothe Kristina's worries about her mother, Ric reluctantly left his wife's side, which gave Sam the perfect in to end the woman's miserable life.

She acted fast, and five minutes later Sam left Alexis's hospital room unnoticed.

* * *

Being a mother, a wife, and a nurse who seemed to be getting every other overnight shift for the past two weeks was really starting to wear Elizabeth down. If she wasn't working overnight, attending one patient after another, then she was at home trying to spend as much time with her son as she could. Cameron was growing up so fast and she didn't want to miss a single moment of it.

She was trying to make her life with Lucky and Cameron as perfect as she had imagined it could be, but with her working the night shifts and Lucky taking on extra shifts at the station to help with their finances, she was quickly learning that life would never be perfect. She hadn't spent more than an hour or two with Lucky each day and if she had time to, she would be missing him more than she could handle. But because she didn't even have time to sleep, she couldn't think too much of her husband unless she had a moments piece like she did at the moment.

It was so much easier when they first got back together. They spent so much time together and were more of a family then than they were now. They barely even saw each other unless Lucky had time to come to the hospital and share a quick meal with her. They even took Cameron out of the Hospital daycare to have a family meal. But recently, those surprise visits stopped.

Sighing, Elizabeth tried to push her thoughts aside. She honestly didn't have time to think about anything else. She only had a few more hours left of her shift and then she could go home, try to get some sleep and then start her routine all over again.

Elizabeth was on her way to the nurse's station when she passed by Alexis's room and decided to check on her. She remembered when Alexis came in earlier that night soaking wet and unconscious. The flighty attorney had been on the docks for a walk and fell into the murky waters. She was lucky that newlyweds Dillon and Georgie happened to walk by and notice her briefcase floating in the water. If the two of them hadn't found her, Alexis would most likely be dead.

Plucking the chart from the door before entering, Elizabeth walked in the room and towards her bed. Biting on her bottom lip, Elizabeth noticed how pale Alexis was. It looked like she was getting worse. She placed her hand on Alexis's forehead, but she didn't seem to have a fever. Elizabeth scanned through the chart before she checked her IV and monitor. Everything seemed to be normal but Elizabeth was going to find Dr. Patrick Drake anyway and voice her concerns.

Stepping out of the room, Elizabeth closed the door quietly behind her and hurriedly went to go find Patrick. Something wasn't sitting well with her in concern for Alexis and she wanted Patrick to check on the woman as soon as possible. As she made her way down the hall, she didn't see Ric as he made his way from the opposite end of the hall towards Alexis's room.

He saw Elizabeth leave his wife's room in a rush. He knew nothing was wrong because doctors weren't rushing towards his wife's room, making him think nothing of Elizabeth's hasty exit.

That was until he entered his wife's room, heard her monitors going off in alert, and saw her thrashing about on her bed.

* * *

At one-twenty-seven in the morning, Alexis Lansing, mother of Kristina and Molly, wife to Ric Lansing, was officially announced dead. Doctor's worked vigorously in an attempt to stabilize her. But no matter how many procedures they used, nothing worked.

Both the Drake's worked side by side trying to save her life, but in the end Alexis died. The cause of her death was unknown. Dr. Patrick Drake couldn't fathom how she ended up having a seizure. He _knew_ that other than being unconscious and needing to stay in the hospital for at least a week, Alexis was fine. He made sure of it.

Her death wasn't caused by her fall; something else caused Alexis to die. He couldn't prove it, didn't know how he was going to, all he knew was that he was going to make sure he knew exactly what or who caused Alexis to die.

Patrick pulled the gloves off of his hands with angry movements at the loss. It wasn't so much that Alexis had died, he dealt with death everyday. It was because her death was unknown and he had no answers to what caused her sudden seizure.

Yet.

Now he had to confront Ric in the waiting room and give him the news that his wife was dead. This was the part he hated the most.

"Mr. Lansing?"

Ric looked up from his spot on the waiting room couch. His eyes glimmered with unshed tears and with one look into the solemn face of Dr. Drake; Ric knew that his wife was gone. He didn't say a word to the man standing before him, just placed his head back into his hands and began to cry silently for his loss.

Patrick didn't know what to do for the man and thankfully for Elizabeth, he didn't have to do anything. She touched his arm before she walked past him and knelt before Ric. Patrick gave her a grateful smile and walked away, giving the grieving husband his privacy.

Touching his hand, Elizabeth whispered to Ric, trying not to startle him with her presence. "Ric?"

He didn't look up at first, and Elizabeth didn't make him. She just kept her hand on top of his in her own way of showing him that she was there for him. Several minutes passed before Ric finally turned his tortured eyes towards hers. He knew Elizabeth was kneeling before him the minute she said his name, but he couldn't bring himself to look up.

"You were in her room."

"What?" She didn't understand him at first. His words were spoken on a hoarse whisper and she didn't know what he meant.

"Before she died, you were in her room."

Elizabeth didn't know that Ric had seen her earlier because she was too busy trying to find Patrick. She tried not to take offense to the look he was giving her, but her heart beat began to quicken at the possible thought of what Ric's harsh expression could mean.

"Yes, I was. I was walking by her room and decided to check on her. She looked pale so I went to go find Patrick. But right when I found him he was being called into Alexis's room. Ric, I am so sorry."

"Don't."

"Ok." Elizabeth stood up, placed her hand on Ric's bent head and then walked away.

Her heart went out to her ex-husband. She just hoped that Ric would be able to get through this and not go back to his old ways. He finally had a family, and even though his wife had just died, he needed to be there for his daughters.

* * *

It had been two days since Alexis's death. The hospital claimed that the death wasn't accidental, starting a police investigation. Everyone was questioned more than once, and although Elizabeth's heart went out to Alexis's family, she hoped that the investigation would be over soon.

She was just walking towards the nurse's station when she saw three uniformed cops walking towards her. She stopped at the look of their grim faces and her first thought was of Lucky. Something happened to him. But that thought quickly vanished when one of the officers reached behind his back and pulled his hand-cuffs out.

"Elizabeth Spencer, you're under arrest for the murder of Alexis Lansing."


	2. Chapter 2

**Part Two**

Jason Morgan hated reading the newspaper.

Journalists always made a situation seem worse than it was, turning what could be a one column article into a two page report. His normal routine was to sit on his couch, flip through the pages, only looking at the headlines to see if anything would catch his attention.

Nothing ever did.

Pulling the Port Charles Herald out of its plastic sleeve as he sat down, Jason positioned himself of his couch just like he did every morning—when he had the chance—and prepared the newspaper on his lap for his five minute skim.

He didn't even turn the first page.

Eyes wide, forehead wrinkled in confusion, Jason read the bold headline three times before he actually believed what he was seeing. Even though the writing was there is bold letters, taking up almost half of the front page, he couldn't quite grasp what he was reading. The first rational thought that ran through his mind after he finally gained his composer was that there had to be a mistake.

It didn't make sense.

They had the wrong person.

He could not believe that Elizabeth, the woman he had known for years, could possibly kill Alexis Lansing.

Elizabeth had been arrested late the night before, only hours before the morning paper was sent out, yet the journalist was able to find enough dirt on Elizabeth to make her look like the perfect suspect. She was the last one seen in Alexis' room before the attorney started to seizure, dying only minutes later. The article even gave motive for Elizabeth's actions for killing Alexis.

She was the jealous ex-wife.

The more Jason read, the more furious he became. He _knew_ Elizabeth and he knew she wasn't capable of killing anyone. Yes, there was that time where she thought that she killed Zander in her haste to protect her unborn child, but that was a reaction that she had. She hadn't planned on knocking Zander unconscious. Zander had threatened her and Cameron, and the protector in Elizabeth reacted the only way she knew how. But according to the article that was crumbled in Jason's hands, Alexis' murder wasn't accidental or spur of the moment. Her murder was planned, calculated.

Elizabeth didn't do it.

The sound of Sam coming down the staircase brought Jason out of his thoughts. He didn't turn to look at her as she made her way around the couch, plopping down right next to him. Her fingers running through his hair caused him to frown. Ever since Sam returned from the hospital after the virus scare, their relationship had been distant. She was in a constant depression over the loss of her brother. After finding out that Danny wasn't her biological brother, the two of them set out to find who her real parents were. Sam was determined to find out who her biological parents were and why they put her up for adoption.

Jason tried to warn her that she might not like what she found, but he still stood by her side since she was so set on knowing who she was. What she found only caused more distance between them.

Alexis Lansing was her mother and Sam was furious.

Jason could care less as to whom Sam's real mother was. He was in love with her, they were together, and that was all he needed. But Sam needed to know and when she found out, she pulled away from him. Her single focus was to cause Alexis as much misery as Alexis had caused her. Jason didn't want to interfere. This was Sam's life and she had to make her own decisions.

But ever since three nights ago, when they had found out Alexis was dead; Sam seemed to be coming back to him. She wasn't distant anymore. Her attitude did a complete turn around in one day's time and it confused the hell out of Jason. He knew Sam would never love Alexis as a mother, she couldn't even stand the older woman, but he thought she would have a different reaction at the news of her mother's death.

He honestly didn't know what he expected her reaction to be, but he didn't expect her to be cheerful.

Sam moved closer to Jason, continuing to run her hand through his hair as she began to kiss the side of his neck. "Anything interesting happening in this boring town?"

Jason's frown only increased as she continued her assault. Pulling away from her, Jason turned on the couch to face her, taking both of her hands in his when she tried to reach for him again. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

Jason eyed her for a moment, unable to understand her sudden change in her mood the past couple of days. He had missed how they used to be, but he knew she had a lot to deal with. She hadn't been so affectionate with him in such a long time, her sudden caresses confused him. Her moods were so up and down lately, though, that he decided against confronting her sudden attention. "Never mind."

Shrugging, Sam pulled her hands away from Jason's and was in the process of getting up from the couch when the wrinkled paper caught her attention. She was in the process picking up the paper from his lap when Jason put his hand on top of it, keeping it where it was. Her dark, questioning eyes, met his.

"They think they found the person who killed Alexis."

He kept eye contact with her when he answered her silent question. His answer seemed to surprise and startle her; the frown he wore all morning intensifying at the flash of fear he caught in her unblinking eyes.

Her voice wavered ever so slightly as her gaze dropped from his. "Who?"

"Elizabeth Spencer."

Jason stared at her, waiting for her to say something. But when she shrugged her shoulders and a sparkle found its way back into her eyes as she finally spoke, Jason looked at her as if he didn't even know her. "Well, at least they know who killed Alexis. Do you want-"

"She didn't do it." His voice was firm, forceful, angered as he looked away from Sam, crushing the paper in his hand even more as he made a fist.

"What?"

"Elizabeth didn't kill Alexis."

"Let me see this." Ripping the paper slightly as she grabbed it out of Jason's hands, Sam read over the article as Jason watched on, waiting for her to finish. "This does make sense Jason." Before he could interrupt, Sam rushed on. "Elizabeth is Ric's ex-wife, and Ric did see her in the room right before Alexis died. Come on Jason, all the signs lead to Elizabeth. It doesn't look good for her."

"I don't care if it doesn't look good for her, Elizabeth didn't kill Alexis." His voice was harsh, making him regret using such a strong voice against Sam. "I… I'm sorry."

"How…" Her voice was about to become panicked if she didn't hold back. Mentally calming herself, Sam tried her question again. "How can you be so sure she didn't kill Alexis?"

"I just am." He needed to go see Elizabeth. Getting up from the couch, Jason made his way towards the front door. He wasn't going to stop but did when Sam's voice reached him.

"Where are you going?"

Jason glanced over his shoulder before he opened the door. "I'm going to see Elizabeth, try to figure out what happened."

"No!" She had rushed to his side and closed the door before he even realized it. Turning around to look at her, Jason raised his eyebrows in obvious irritation as he waited for her to explain. "There is nothing that you can do Jason. Let Lucky, her _husband_, take care of this. You don't need to get involved." He was still looking at her with an odd expression. He was studying her and she knew she had to break through to him, stop him from trying to help Elizabeth. If he did help the other woman, then he might find out what she had done. "If you get involved, people are going to ask questions. People are going to wonder why you—a known criminal—are visiting a murder suspect. It won't look good for you _or_ for Elizabeth."

He tilted his head to the side during her rushed out explanation. He was suddenly extremely tired of trying to figure her out, read her emotions. He just wanted to get to Elizabeth and find out what really happened. "I'll be back later."

He had opened the door and was on his way to the elevator when she called out to him again. He couldn't help but notice the panic in her voice, or the way she tried to hide it. "Why is it so important for you to see her? She has Lucky and even Nicolas. Why do you need to help her?"

The elevator doors opened on a ding as he looked back at her. "She's my friend Sam."

"You two haven't talked to each other in a long time. I just don't-"

"It doesn't matter." With that, Jason walked into the elevator, leaving Sam alone in the hallway.

* * *

She was slowly going insane.

After the initial shock of being arrested for a murder she didn't commit wore off, Elizabeth began to grow impatient and worried. She had never been placed in a position like this one before. Her instincts, or rather, her experience of being a friend to Jason Morgan and Sonny Corinthos screamed at her to not talk unless she had a lawyer present. But another voice was trying to push past her instincts telling her to trust the system. She was married to a police officer and she should trust that everything would work out.

She knew better.

As proud as she was of her husband for being on the right side of the law, she knew that the Port Charles Police Department was about as credible as Sonny's tax returns. So instead of pleading her case, telling Mac over and over again that she did not kill Alexis Lansing, Elizabeth held her tongue. She sat patiently, waiting for Lucky to show up and tell her what she should do.

He was still no where to be found.

As much as she knew she shouldn't say a word, Elizabeth was growing very weary of the wait. She didn't _have_ a lawyer that she could call whenever she needed. She never _needed_ one.

Lucky really needed to show up.

The soft thud of the interrogation room door brought Elizabeth out of her worrisome thoughts. Looking up, Elizabeth almost sighed with relief when she saw her husband's partner standing before her. His eyes showcased the pity he felt for her being held in the interrogation room all night with her wrists bound by handcuffs.

"How you holding up?"

Holding back the need to let out a very unladylike grunt, Elizabeth looked down at the handcuffs that bound her wrist to the table before turning her pleading eyes towards Jesse. "I'd be a lot better if I didn't have these things on." Yanking slightly against cuffs to show her annoyance, Elizabeth grimaced as a sharp pain radiated through her wrist. "Damn."

"What's wrong?" He was about to make his way around the table but stopped when Elizabeth shook her head.

"Nothing, I'm just not used to these." She tried her hardest not to cry and she was doing a damn fine job of it until Jesse came into the room. She was just too tired to care anymore. Focusing her tear filled eyes on him, Elizabeth spoke on a whisper. "Where's my husband?"

"I don't know."

A tear spilled down her cheek as her eyes widened. "What do you mean? He should be getting off soon, why aren't you with him?"

Jesse's confusion showed through his wrinkled brow, "Lucky's not on duty right now."

"Yes he is." Gone was the slight tremble to her voice, in its place was a determination for the man standing before her to quit his innocent act and tell her where he husband was. "Lucky told me he was taking extra shifts to make up for our financial trouble. He said he was working a double yesterday and wouldn't get off until this morning."

"Lucky has been off since yesterday afternoon."

Before she could respond, a booming, familiar, male voice met Elizabeth's ears. She wanted to cry with relief and frustration. It wasn't her husband, but he would know what to do.

"Let me in to see her Mac."

"We can't do that Luke."

"What do you mean you can't do that? How long have we known each other?"

"Luke." Elizabeth could hear Mac's warning tone, but she knew Luke wouldn't back down. He was her only hope at the moment.

"Mac." Elizabeth almost smiled at his mock warning tone. Jesse walked back to the door and opened it, allowing Elizabeth to see her father-in-law squaring off with the police commissioner. Luke's eyes connected with hers and he was already walking past Mac before the commissioner called out.

"You have five minutes."

Luke didn't say a word until her practically shoved Jesse out of the room, closing the door in his face. "Damn darlin', you look like hell."

A small smile graced Elizabeth's face as Luke sat down across from her. "Leave it up to you to be brutally honest in a situation like this."

Covering her hand with his own, Luke gave it a gentle squeeze. "How the hell did you find yourself in this situation?"

"I don't know." Tears began to spill from her eyes as she explained to Luke what happened. He listened, squeezing her hand in silent encouragement when she was close to breaking down through her recollection of the events that took place the night Alexis was killed. "How could they think I killed her?"

Luke didn't feel the need to tell her about all the reasons the Port Charles Herald gave as her motive; he didn't think it would make the matter any better. "What have you told the police?"

"Nothing, I only asked to speak to Lucky, but he never came."

"Good, I'm proud of you for hanging in there."

"I don't think I can do it anymore Luke. I just-" She cut herself off when her voice became weak with tears. She was staring at the table, slowly composing herself before she looked back at Luke.

"You just need to stay strong for just a little while longer darlin. I know you can do it."

Jason witnessed through the interrogation room window as Elizabeth spoke to Luke. She looked withdrawn and on the brink of giving up. He wanted to talk to her, find out what really happened the night Alexis died but the police officers wouldn't allow him to see her until she was fully booked.

Jason hated seeing her in there with her hand secured to the table with handcuffs. He knew that he had to help her. Even though he didn't know the entire story, he knew he had to do something. He couldn't speak to her just yet, but there were other people he could speak to until he was allowed to see Elizabeth. With that, Jason left the police station heading towards the hospital.

One way or another, he was going to help his friend.

* * *

Reporters were everywhere.

Dr. Patrick Drake was growing annoyed very quickly with seeing the reporters and hearing the constant chatter of the nurses at the nurse's desk as they gossiped about the arrest that took place the night before. He wasn't there to see the police officers hall his friend off to jail, but after over-hearing the nurses talk about the event, he felt like he _was _there.

Rolling his eyes as another nurse began to recall Elizabeth's arrest, Patrick slammed his folder shut, glaring at the two nurses for speaking about the dedicated nurse in such an uncaring manner. After silently letting them know he didn't at all care for their discussion, he walked away from the desk, making his way down an empty hallway towards a patient's room. He was about three doors away from the room when Jason intercepted him.

"We need to talk."

Eyeing his one time patient, Patrick stopped for a moment before he tried to make his way around the man. "I'm busy."

"You'll make time." Patrick didn't have a choice but to stop when Jason placed a hand on his chest, slightly shoving him back.

"What do you want?" The doctor all but sighed, not at all intimidated by the known mob enforcer.

"I want you to tell me how Alexis was killed."

"Why would I do that?"

Jason never liked the cocky man standing before him. Even when his life was practically in Patrick's hands, Jason hated the man. If he had any other choice he wouldn't deal with the man standing before him. But, because of Elizabeth, he pushed his hate aside and confronted the doctor. Not wanting to give too much away, Jason glared at Patrick as he spoke, ignoring his question. "What do you know about what happened?"

"Why do you care?"

Clenching his jaw tight, Jason had to ball his hands into fists as he avoided punching Patrick. "You were the doctor that worked on her. What happened?"

"I'm not going to stand here all day and go back and forth with you, I have lives to save."

With that, Patrick walked past Jason, almost making it to his patient's room before the enforcers long sigh reached him. "Elizabeth has been arrested for the murder."

Patrick turned back around to face Jason, taking several steps before he made his way back to stand before him. "I know."

"She didn't do it."

Patrick couldn't help himself. "How do you know? What, did you order one of your men to kill the attorney and now you feel guilty because an innocent woman is taking the blame?" Patrick could tell from the glare Jason gave him that the man was becoming extremely angry. He knew that Jason was about to walk away and decided to finally give in. "Look, I don't think Elizabeth is capable of killing anyone. She's a damn fine nurse, and she has too soft of a heart to hurt anyone."

Jason's expression never wavered as he continued to glare at Patrick. The young doctor looked behind him before he met Jason's cold eyes again. "The police took over the investigation before I had a chance to do an investigation of my own. A lot doesn't make sense and I'm going to figure it out."

"And you think that what you find out will be able to help Elizabeth?"

"Yes." Looking around once more, Patrick lowered his voice even more as he spoke to Jason. "How can you help her?"

"I have my ways." He shrugged.

For some insane reason, Patrick believed him. He knew Jason was involved with the mob and most likely had connections that could help Elizabeth out. As much as he wanted to help his friend, Patrick was finding it hard to trust the man. After several moments of contemplating whether or not to work with Jason, Patrick decided he would work with the man, but if Jason proved to be worthless, Patrick would take matters into his own hands. "Alright." Sighing, Patrick continued, hoping he wasn't making a mistake. "If I find anything, I'll let you know."

The only response he received from Jason was a slight nod. Turning around again, Patrick finally made his way to his patient's room.

Jason didn't want to trust Patrick, but by talking to the other man, something in Jason told him that the doctor would do his best to find something that would help with Elizabeth's case. Jason had no other choice _but_ to trust Patrick.

He was in the process of making his way out of the hallway and back towards the elevators when a voice from behind stopped him.

"Hey man. I know who killed Alexis."

Squaring his shoulders, a cold look entered Jason's eyes as he turned around to face his enemy, a man he wanted to take out for months. Jason didn't say a word as he glared at Manny.

The tattooed mobster stood before him with a grin on his lips. And Jason knew that whatever the man knew, he was taking great pleasure in the information. Jason continued to glare at the older man, waiting for him to state his business.

"I know who killed Alexis."

"You said that."

"You're not going to like it." Manny's grin was smug.

Jason's only response to the man was a tilt of his head as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"See, I was just minding my own business, doing my community service, when I happened to see your little woman rushing towards the staircase." When Jason's expression began to darken, Manny's smile became sadistic. He shrugged his shoulders as he made a tisking sound with his tongue. "I didn't think much of it at the time, but the room she was coming out of was Alexis's."

In the blink of an eye, Jason had Manny pinned against the wall. "What the hell kind of game are you trying to play?"

"What? Did I say something to upset you?"

Before Jason could take action, a nurse began to walk down the hall, letting out a loud gasp at the scene before her eyes. She was about to run in the direction she came from when Jason let go of Manny and walked away, hearing Manny's taunting voice trail behind him. "Just think about what I said."

Turning back towards the scared nurse, Manny's smile lost its sadistic measure as he patted her arm before he walked away. "Don't worry, there's no need to call security."


	3. Chapter 3

**Part Three**

When anger became all consuming, it could make a person so blind with the fury, a simple, logical thought was impossible.

Normally, Jason took a bike ride to rid himself of his thoughts. But on his ride back to his penthouse, he couldn't push his thoughts aside; no matter how illogical they ended up becoming. His anger was rising with each passing thought and Jason wanted nothing more than to turn his bike around, go back to General Hospital and kick the shit out of Manny Ruiz.

The bastard was trying to play some type of head game with him. That was how Manny operated. It didn't matter that everyone believed the man was transformed when he had his tumor removed from his brain. To Jason the man was still a ticking bomb that could explode at any moment. Even if what Manny told him was true, why would the _reformed_ mobster offer up the crucial information to Jason so willingly?

Squeezing the handle bars on his bike harder than normal, Jason pushed his bike faster, wanting to get home as quick as possible.

He didn't believe Manny. The man was trying to pull something and Jason was going to find out what the hell Manny was up to.

After pulling into the parking garage, Jason parked his bike and entered the elevator, pushing the button for his floor. When his hands began to throb, it was then that Jason realized his hands were formed into tight fists. Loosening his grip and trying to focus on what he needed to, Jason stared down at his hands, pumping them in order to get blood circulating again. The ding of the elevator informed him that he was now on his floor. Stepping out of the elevator, Jason looked to his right before making his way to his penthouse door.

It was odd, but he was glad Sonny didn't live across from him anymore. With everything that was going on at the moment, he really couldn't deal with the ever present betrayal he felt as he harbored the feeling that his best friend and sister were lying to him about their relationship.

Walking into his penthouse, Jason didn't have to look far to find Sam. She was sitting on the couch, music blaring in the background as she flipped through one of her magazines. The music was so loud; she didn't even hear his entrance and continued to flip through her magazine as he walked over to the coffee table that held her portable boom-box, turning it off once he reached it.

Sam flinched when her music turned off; she closed her magazine, placed her hand over her chest and smiled up at Jason. "You scared me."

"Sorry."

After placing her magazine on the coffee table, Sam began to clear the seat cushion next to her that was full with other magazines. Her intent was to clear the area for Jason to sit next to her, but when she looked back towards him, she stopped her cleaning when she saw him already seated in their large chair that sat next to the couch.

She was smiling at him and Jason couldn't help but notice the drastic change in her from that morning. When he was walking out of the door she seemed almost frantic to keep him there. She even seemed angry with him for leaving. But now her attitude was completely different.

Sam couldn't take the silence or the way he was studying her anymore. Looking down at her hands, she made sure he could see her frown before she spoke. "How did everything go with Elizabeth?" She said Elizabeth's name with a slight sneer and regretted it when she looked back towards Jason and saw his eyes narrow a bit at her tone of voice.

"I didn't get a chance to see her."

Relief was visible on her face after he made that comment. Her relief was short lived, however, when he continued.

He braced his elbows on his knees and looked down at the floor between his feet before he glanced back at her. "I went to the hospital though." He wasn't going to give her any more information; he never really even planned on telling her that he went to the hospital. But at the last moment, he said it and held his breath as he waited for her reaction.

If he would have blinked, he would have missed the slight flash of emotion that passed through her eyes before a look of indifference took over. He couldn't quite name the emotion that passed through her and was trying to figure it out when she began to tell him about her day, changing the subject.

He wasn't really paying attention to her. His mind was set on trying to figure out everything that was placed before him. He looked up at Sam was she gestured wildly with her hands and smiled as she told him about an idea she had. He was in love with this woman and she wouldn't lie to him or hide something as big as killing Alexis from him—especially if an innocent person would take the blame for it. Manny had to be wrong. He was trying to cause trouble and Jason told himself that he wouldn't let the other man succeed.

"Anyway, I'm not too sure if I want to go through with the whole lawyer thing. It's just an idea I had." Standing up, Sam pulled her shirt down, only to have it rise back to rest over her navel, showing off a large portion of her stomach. "I have been cooped up her all day, what do you say we go out for a while. Get something to eat?"

Jason was still trying to process her comment about becoming a lawyer when she finished talking. Deciding to not question her on that just yet, Jason shook his head at her last suggestion. "I can't go out tonight. I have to go to the warehouse and solve a couple of problems. I was waiting until I could get a hold of Sonny, but I can't reach him at the island and I can't wait for him anymore."

Sam crossed her arms under her chest and pouted down at him as she plopped back down on the couch. "You never have time for me anymore." She sounded like a little girl pouting over being grounded. When she saw that Jason was about to speak, she held her hand up and sighed. "Don't worry about me, I'll find something to do."

Jason nodded his head and was about to get up and leave when he decided against it. Settling himself back into the chair, he ran his hand over his face before he looked back at Sam. "Are you really thinking about becoming a lawyer?"

"I don't know, maybe."

"Is it because of Alexis?"

"Oh God, no." Her face took on a look of disgust as she ranted on and on about Alexis having nothing to do with her decision to want to become a lawyer. Sam claimed that it didn't matter to her that the woman ended up being her biological mother. Alexis was not her reason behind this sudden interest in becoming a lawyer. "I just figured that I'm good at arguing and I think I would be a good lawyer. Trust me Jason, that bitch had nothing to do with my decision to look into law school. As far as I am concerned, Alexis deserved everything that she got."

After she made that remark, Sam began to pick up her magazines again. Jason watched her with a thoughtful expression as she walked into the kitchen. Shaking his head against the thoughts that began to enter his mind, Jason stood and picked up his leather jacket, calling out to her as he made his way to the door. "I'm leaving; I don't know when I'll be back."

He heard her shout her acknowledgement from the kitchen as he closed the door behind him.

Sam hurried out of the kitchen to say goodbye to Jason. She shrugged her shoulders when she realized that he was already gone. She began to clean up the rest of the mess from the coffee table, swiping the crumbs from her cookies she had earlier off of the coffee table and onto the floor. As she made her way back into the kitchen, Sam allowed herself to think about the day she killed Alexis. She smiled to herself over the fact that the woman was dead. Alexis tried to do everything in her power to ruin Sam's life and Sam could only return the favor.

It was a sad thing that Elizabeth had to pay for Alexis' death, Sam thought, but as long as Alexis was dead and Sam was in the clear, she couldn't find it in herself to care.

* * *

She never wanted to spend another night in jail.

Ever again.

Threading her fingers through her hair over that fanciful thought, Elizabeth took a good look at her surroundings and thought about her situation. It was pretty likely that she was going to be spending a few more nights in jail. She just hoped she would be able to prove her innocence and get out of there as quickly as possible.

She spent all of her time the day before hoping and praying that her husband would show up. The PCPD weren't going to allow her any visitors, but she was glad that Luke was able to get in to see her, even if it was only for a short while. He was able to keep her spirits high and her faith intact.

She was going to get out of there and prove her innocence.

Elizabeth had just sat down on her cot again when she heard the giggle of keys and a gate opening as it scraped across the concrete floor. She frowned as she waited for whoever it was. She had just had a visitor not even twenty minutes before and didn't think that she would be allowed another one. She was just about to give into the hope that it could be her husband, but when she heard the familiar thud of motorcycle boots, she knew exactly who it was.

Odd, but knowing he was there seemed to calm her a bit.

Standing up from her cot, Elizabeth fixed her ponytail as she waited for Jason and the police officer to turn the corner to where her cell was. She couldn't contain it, relief washed over her when she saw him turn the corner and make eye contact with her. His eyes were sympathetic as they locked with hers.

Jason didn't say anything to Elizabeth when he stopped before her cell. He looked at the guard who escorted him to her and waited until the cop left. He was a younger man, probably new to the force and with one look from Jason Morgan; the young guard took a shaky step back before speaking. "You have ten minutes." With that, the guard turned around and walked with quick steps away from the pair.

Once Jason was sure that the guard was out of ear shot, he turned to Elizabeth and felt his stomach clench at the sight of her in the cell. "Are you ok?"

Never one to hold her feelings back when she was with Jason, Elizabeth gave him the only answer she could. The truth. "No." Swiping away a stray tear with an angry swipe of her hand, Elizabeth looked down at the concrete floor before she locked her dimmed blue eyes with his concerned ones. "I didn't do it."

"I know." Moving closer, Jason grabbed onto a bar with a death grip. "I tried to come and see you yesterday when I heard what happened, but they wouldn't let me see you. Can you tell me what happened?"

Sighing, Elizabeth walked closer to the bars that separated her from Jason and began to relate everything that she knew. "I was just walking by her hospital room when I decided to check on her. She looked really pale, but when I checked her forehead and her IV, everything else was fine."

"Where you wearing gloves?"

"No."

Closing his eyes at that fact, Jason nodded his head and waited for her to go on.

"I know what you're thinking. They now have my fingerprints in her room and I wasn't her nurse and I was the last one seen in her room before she died so that just makes it look worse for me." Placing her hands over her face, Elizabeth groaned. "They have so much evidence against me. What am I going to do? I can't even afford a lawyer."

Turning away from him, Elizabeth wrapped her arms around her stomach as she walked back to her cot and sat down. She placed her elbows on her knees and buried her head in her hands.

"I'll get you a lawyer."

Her head shot up at his softened voice. She voiced her denial quickly. "No, Jason, I couldn't ask something like-"

A soft smile found its way to his grim face. "You didn't ask." When she gave a soft and small smile in return, Jason hedged on. "You need a really good lawyer and I happen to know one of the best. I know Justus will take this case."

"Thank you." Her soft words of gratitude made him shake his head as she stood back up and walk towards him again. She stopped right in front of the bars and placed her hand over his. "I don't know how long it will take me to pay you back, but I promise you that you'll get every single penny back."

Jason didn't feel the need to tell her that she _wasn't_ going to be giving him a single penny in payment. "Let's just get you out of here first and then we'll worry about that, ok?"

"Ok." She dropped her hand away from his, but didn't step back. She was looking at the ground as she spoke again. "I just can't believe that people would actually believe that I would kill Alexis." Her confused eyes met his and the depth of pain that was radiating through her eyes was like a hard blow to his stomach. "Luke told me that they are saying I killed her because I was jealous. I just-"

"Luke told you that?" He didn't mean for his voice to sound so angry. But he couldn't help it. Luke shouldn't have told her what the papers were saying. She had too much to deal with as it was, she didn't need to hear the nasty rumors being spread about her.

She found herself reassuring him, and it helped to have to soothe him rather than being the one who was in need of the soothing. "Only because I begged him to tell me everything they were saying. I'm locked up in here for God only knows how long; I wanted to know what was going on." She smiled when the angry expression left Jason's face.

The smile slipped from her face when she felt the sudden need to get everything off of her chest. It was always so easy to talk to Jason. "Ric was here earlier. He is so devastated over Alexis' death he just doesn't know what to believe. He begged me to give him some answers, but I couldn't and that hurt so much to see him so lost." Tears gathered in her eyes, threatening to spill free. "He told me that he didn't want to believe that I killed Alexis and that he was sorry that he had to tell the police that he saw me leaving her room."

"Ric told you he didn't believe that you killed Alexis?"

"I don't think he believes I killed her. But he is just so confused right now. I'm worried that he is going to go back to the way he was when he first came to Port Charles."

"I know you're worried Elizabeth, but you have to think of yourself right now. I'll try to talk to Ric. He probably won't want to talk, but I'll try. It might help to have Ric on our side."

"I know."

Looking over his shoulder, Jason looked to see if the guard was coming yet. When he heard and saw nothing, he turned back to Elizabeth and stepped forward as he lowered his voice. "I talked to Patrick Drake yesterday; he's working to see if he can find out what really happened." Her eyes widened at the news. "I also don't think that Alexis fell into the water."

"What?" Her question was a breathless whisper.

"I think someone pushed her in. When she ended up alive, I think that same person went into her hospital room to finish the job."

"Who do you think would do that?"

Jason shook his head. "I'm not sure. Alexis has a lot of enemies. She was a lawyer and helped to put a lot of people away. It could be anybody." When she closed her eyes and two identical tears fell from both of her closed lids, Jason reached in-between the bars and gently cupped her face with one hand, wiping one tear away with his thumb.

"We will figure this out Elizabeth. I'm going to talk to Justus when I leave here. You just need to hang in there for a little while longer. You'll get out of here," he paused when he heard the guard making his way towards them. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He wiped her cheek with his thumb one more time before he pulled away.

"I promise."


	4. Chapter 4

**Part Four**

He hated having to leave her in there.

Jason was never one to want to go anywhere near the police station, and when he was forced to be there, he would count the minutes until his lawyer showed up and got him out of there. He didn't stay longer than he had to, and he avoided the place as much as possible. But yet, as he walked away from the station, he didn't want to leave.

Walking away meant leaving Elizabeth in there alone.

She had looked so vulnerable sitting on the cot in her cell as tears gathered in her eyes. Jason could tell she was trying to be as strong as possible, not wanting to break down and give up, but she didn't belong in there. Especially for the crime she was being blamed for. He knew it before he saw her, but with one look into her eyes; Jason _knew_ Elizabeth had nothing to do with Alexis' murder.

The further he drove his bike away from the station, the more determined he became to help Elizabeth and get her out of there. He needed to call Justus and tell the man that he needed to get to work right away. But knowing Justus, he wouldn't have to be told.

Sighing, Jason knew that he had to make one stop before he spoke to the lawyer. He didn't practically care for the encounter he was going to have. But he gave Elizabeth his word.

And he wasn't going to break it.

* * *

"I know the way."

Jumping off of the cot at the sound of his voice, Elizabeth rushed to the edge of her cell and wrapped her hands around the cool steel of the bars that separated her from freedom. Her heart raced with anticipation of finally being able to see him. Though she had only been at the station for two nights, one of them spent locked up in her current cell, it felt like an eternity since she had last seen him.

Her husband finally showed up.

Elizabeth wanted to run into his arms when she saw him walking towards her cell. Lucky was walking in front of the young guard who had brought Jason to see her a little less than an hour before. Before Lucky rushed forward to see her, he turned around to the young guard. "You can go now; I told you I know the way. I work here if you haven't forgotten."

"No, I haven't forgotten, but it is protocol that I accompany you down here. You know the rules." With that, the young guard turned around and walked away.

When Lucky turned back around, Elizabeth could see the anger in his eyes, but once he locked his gaze with hers, he softened his expression and rushed forward. "I'm so sorry, I-I couldn't get here sooner. I just heard what happened."

His hands cupped her face as he squeezed his face between the bars and kissed her just once. He pulled away and dropped his hands, placing them in his jean pockets. He looked extremely tired to her and all she wanted to do was go home, curl up on their pull out couch with him and sleep for at least a week.

"Where have you been?" Her voice was whisper soft, showing her vulnerability.

"I was out on a job and no one could get a hold of me."

"I don't understand." She was suddenly so cold. Wrapping her arms around her waist, Elizabeth tried to warm herself when all she needed was to be wrapped up in her husband. She wanted nothing more than for him to reach out and just touch her, hold her hand at least, but he didn't. He kept his hands in his pockets. "I talked to Jesse and he said you weren't working."

"You talked to Jesse? When?" His voice took on an urgent tone, his eyes widened for a spilt second before he tried to regain his composure.

"Yesterday, a couple of hours after they brought me in." Her forehead was creased in a frown. "He told me that you weren't on duty. Lucky, where were you?"

He finally moved closer, but he still didn't touch her. "I… I was… I was undercover. Jesse couldn't even know about it." When she opened her mouth to speak, he hurried on. "I can't talk about it Elizabeth and it doesn't matter. What matters is finding a way to get you out of here."

Before he could go on, she spoke. "Have you seen Cameron? They arrested me at the hospital and he was still in the daycare. Is he ok? I need-"

"Cameron is fine. The second I found out about you I called Audrey and she told me that she picked him up when she heard what happened. She tried to see you first, but they wouldn't let anyone in, and then she couldn't come in today because she had Cameron."

"I understand." Clearing her throat, Elizabeth placed her hand on the bar again, hoping he would catch the hint that she needed him to touch her, to give her the warmth that she so desperately needed. "Did they tell you everything?"

"Yes." He still didn't touch her. "What do you think happened? Do you think you might have given her the wrong medicine on accident? I know that you have been working hard lately and you must be overly tired. It could have been-"

"I didn't do it." Her hand dropped from the bar as she backed away. Her tone was sharp and accusing. "I didn't murder Alexis, Lucky."

"I know you didn't murder her Elizabeth. It had to have been an accident, you-"

"I didn't do it!"

"Ok, ok, you need to calm down."

"Calm down? You want me to calm down?" She threaded her hands through her hair, messing up her poorly put together ponytail. Scrubbing her hands over her face, Elizabeth began to pace the length of her cell. "I have been arrested, taken away in handcuffs from the hospital where I work. I have been accused of killing my ex-husbands wife. I have been questioned for hours about what happened, accused of being the jealous ex-wife, not to mention that I have been cooped up in this cell for the past day. And do you want to know the only thing that I have wished for Lucky?" She didn't give him a chance to answer. "All this time, all this miserable time I have wished for nothing but to see my husband, for him to tell me that everything is going to be all right."

"But you couldn't do that could you? No, no, you…you," she couldn't grasp the concept that he could actually believe that she was responsible. "You believe that I actually caused Alexis' death?"

"The evidence proves-"

"Screw the evidence Lucky. I'm your wife!" Her breathing was irregular and she suddenly couldn't see straight. Placing her hands over her face, Elizabeth tired to calm herself down, and when she felt that she would be able to speak again, she removed her hands. "How can you doubt me?" Her voice was a bare whisper.

"I'm just trying to put the pieces together. I don't believe that you could actually kill her. Please," moving closer, Lucky finally placed his hand on the bar hers rested upon minutes before. "Please, tell me everything that happened so I can understand."

Her eyes closed in disappointment. He shouldn't need an explanation. "What is there to explain Lucky, either you believe me or you don't. I'm not some stranger you arrested and are trying to get answers out of. I'm your wife, the person you claim to love the most. You shouldn't need me to explain anything in order for you to believe me."

"Your right, I'm sorry. I believe you Elizabeth. I know that you could never kill anyone." He began to breathe easier when he saw her expression soften. "Just please, tell me what happened. Mac told me that you didn't answer any questions. I need to know what happened."

Taking in a deep breath, Elizabeth related the events that occurred that night. She told him about her checking on Alexis and then going to find Patrick, only to have Alexis die minutes later.

"You didn't give her any medication?"

She tried not to take offense to his questioning. "No, I didn't. I didn't give her anything. I only checked her chart and her IV."

Nodding his head, Lucky placed his hands back inside his pockets. "We need to get you a lawyer. I have been working more so it-"

"I have a lawyer." She spoke so quietly, Lucky almost didn't hear her.

"You have a lawyer?"

Her nod was jerky as she stared at the ground. "Justus."

"How did-"

She interrupted before he could go on, knowing that there was going to be another confrontation and wanting to get it over with as soon as possible. "Jason came by to see me and told me that he would hire Justus." She held her hand up in a silent message for him to not interrupt her. "We can't afford a lawyer right now, and I told Jason that we would pay him back."

"Why would you allow him to help you?"

She physically blanched at his question. "Are you serious? Did you happen to forget that Jason saved your life during the virus scare? I-"

"I know he did. Why would you allow him to pay for your lawyer, we don't need Jason's help."

"Yes _I_ do." She was so tired of fighting with him. Lucky was supposed to be her savior, her calm during this horrible storm. Why was he making this so difficult for her? "We don't have money, Lucky. Jason is just being a friend and trying to help. If Jason is going to help me prove my innocence and help me get home to my son, then I'll be damned if I don't accept his help. He believes that I didn't kill Alexis."

Lucky actually rolled his eyes. "I believe you Elizabeth. But you didn't have to accept Jason's help, I've been working longer and I have been saving up. We don't-"

"The last thing I want to worry about right now is our money troubles. Can we fight about this when I am out of here? I'm scared right now Lucky. I… I just, I need you right now, and I can't be strong enough to make it through this if I am fighting with you. Please."

After being with her for nearly fifteen minutes, Lucky finally realized how small and delicate she looked. But yet, there was still a fire in her eyes, still a reassurance that she was strong and she was going to make it through this. "I'm sorry."

Reaching into the cell, Lucky grabbed hold of her hand when she moved closer. "You're going to get out of here Elizabeth. I guess I'll have to deal with Jason helping us out for now."

"Thank you."

Smiling, Lucky dropped her hand and began to back away from her cell. "I'm going to go and see if I can find out some more answers about what really happened. When I'm done, I'll go check on Cameron and then come back here to see you again." When she smiled back at him, a small twinge of guilt built within him as he lied to her with his next statement. "I still have some undercover work that I have to do tonight, but it will be over soon."

"Ok."

"I love you."

As he walked away, Elizabeth couldn't fight off her fatigue any longer. She tried to fight the sleep that was threatening to consume her for so long, but she finally gave in. She was too tired to worry any longer.

Lucky made his way back towards the upper level of the police station. Though he knew his wife didn't _murder_ Alexis, and he would do everything in his power to help set her free, he still couldn't fight off that little voice inside his head. Elizabeth might not have had the intent to kill Alexis, but all the evidence pointed back to her.

Evidence didn't lie.

* * *

"We need to talk."

Ric Lansing was leaning over his daughter Molly's stroller when someone spoke from behind him. Turning around, Ric found himself staring at his biggest enemy as he held onto his stepdaughter Kristina's hand. Jason stood between him and the door to Kelly's and Ric had no choice but to acknowledge his brothers best friend.

Jason's expression told him nothing, and for some odd reason, Ric wanted to know what the enforcer deemed so important to confront him about. Looking away from Jason, Ric looked down at the little girl he considered his daughter. "Why don't you take your little sister inside and tell Mike that I'll be right in. He might sneak you some chocolate before I get in." Kristina gave Ric a huge smile, showing off her missing front tooth as she stood on her tip-toes to push her sister's stroller inside the diner. Jason held the door open for the little girl, and when Ric saw that Mike knew the girls were there, he turned his attention back to the enforcer, keeping one eye on his girls at all times.

"What do you want?" Ric's tone was harsh, just like he wanted it to be.

Jason's voice held no emotion when he spoke. "I'm here to talk to you about Elizabeth."

His comment surprised Ric and it showed in the widening of his eyes and the scrunch of his forehead. "Why?"

"You know that she didn't kill Alexis."

At the sound of his dead wife's name out of Jason's mouth, Ric wanted to explode. He held himself together, not wanting to cause a scene. But he still couldn't help the hate that ran through him as Jason stood so casually in front of him. Ric didn't doubt that the man didn't give a damn that Alexis was killed. Anger bubbled within him and he had to look through the window of Kelly's and see Kristina laugh before he calmed down. His little girls were inside and he couldn't do anything that would scare them.

"Don't ever say her name again."

Jason understood Ric was grieving, and although he truly disliked the man, he wasn't going to start a fight. He nodded his head instead. Turning back to the issue at hand, Jason placed his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket as he spoke to Ric again. "Do you believe that Elizabeth is guilty?"

"Why do you care?" Ric waited for Jason to answer, but when the younger man stood there, not saying a word or changing his expression, Ric became to weary to stand there all day. His wife was dead, and although he wanted nothing more than to escape from reality and crawl into a small black existence where he felt nothing, he knew he had to go on for his girls. Maybe that was why he decided to corporate with Jason instead of refusing to answer him. The quicker he ended their conversation, the quicker he could be near his girls and away from his thoughts about Alexis. "I don't know what to believe. My wife fell into the water, and I was told that she was going to be ok. The next thing I know, I am holding her thrashing body in my arms at the hospital. After being kicked out of her hospital room, the doctors tell me that she is dead and there was nothing they could do about it." He ended his rant on a shout, not feeling the least bit better.

It was hard, but a small, tiny, almost non-existent part of Jason felt sorry for the man. "And you think that Elizabeth could have had a part in this?"

Ric didn't answer him. Pulling his hands out of his pockets, Jason placed them on his hips. "Come on Ric, you know Elizabeth. Can you honestly believe that Elizabeth is that manipulative? She could never hurt anyone. "

Ric couldn't look at Jason as the man went off on him. If the situation wasn't what it was, Ric would have stared in awe at Jason as he showed so much emotion in defending Elizabeth. But, instead, he stared at the ground and finally nodded his head when Jason finished. "You're right."

"She is going to need help, Ric. She needs you on her side."

It was odd agreeing with Jason, but Ric knew he was right. He could tell from the enforcer's tense posture that he wasn't any happier about the momentary silent truce that they were both going through. "I know. I want to find out who really killed my wife. I'm not going to allow Elizabeth to be accused of it."

Jason didn't even nod his head as he began to walk away. He didn't make it more than three steps before Ric called out to him. Turning around, Jason's expression remained stoic as he waited for Ric to talk.

Ric was staring into the front windows of Kelly's before he turned to look back at Jason. Pointing his finger at the diner, he spoke. "This has got to stop Jason."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"This." Pointing at the diner again, Ric urged Jason to look inside. When he did, he saw Sam talking to Kristina and Molly. "Every time I turn around, Sam is there, watching us. It has to stop Jason. I don't mind if she talks to the girls when we pass by. But this, her ending up everywhere we are, has to end."

"What are you saying Ric?" The momentary truce was over.

"You know exactly what I mean. And I think you agree with me." Not saying anything else, Ric walked inside of Kelly's, approached Sam who was still speaking to Kristina and pointed outside. Sam looked up, saw Jason, and came outside.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Sam smiled up to him.

Shaking his head, Jason scratched his jaw before dropping his hand. "What's going on Sam?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ric told me that he has been seeing you around a lot. What's going on?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "What? Kristina and Molly are my sisters Jason. I want to get to know them. I don't care what Ric thinks. I am going to spend time with them and with any luck, I'll be able to make sure that they don't believe the lies they'll hear about how wonderful Alexis was. I want them to know that their mother wasn't a saint."

His sigh was long. "You plan on telling people that Alexis was your mother then?"

"No." She paused to tuck a piece hair behind her ear. She gestured towards him as she spoke. "You know that we can't tell anyone about Alexis. But I _will_ get to know my sisters. And maybe one day I'll be able to tell them." She looked towards the ground as a bitter smile splayed across her lips. "If you ask me, Kristina and Molly are lucky that Alexis is dead and don't have to grow up with her as a mother." She had whispered to Jason, and although her eyes held a slight twinkle, his were squinted in slight confusion.

He knew that Sam hated Alexis; he just didn't think the hate ran so deep.

"Are you staying to grab something to eat?"

He knew she was trying to change the subject and allowed her to. They would talk more when they were alone. "No. I have to handle something."

"Alright." She quickly kissed him on the lips before she went back inside the diner. Jason watched as she walked past Ric's table and stared at the two girls. Her look was dreamy and Jason couldn't help but worry about her obsession with Kristina and Molly.

Scrubbing his hands over his face, Jason walked away from Kelly's and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket as he made his way towards his bike.

The phone rang twice before Justus picked up.

"It's Jason. I have a job for you."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"They denied bail."

Muttering a curse, Jason clenched his hand into a fist, holding back the need to slam it against Justus's desk as the lawyer walked into his office, a grim expression upon his face.

Jason had met Justus the day before, explained Elizabeth's position, and before he could finish explaining Elizabeth's case the lawyer was agreeing to take it on. Justus was known as one of the best, always taking on what others deemed as worthless cases, always winning them all. Justus took immediate action, setting up a bail hearing for Elizabeth, making one accurate, justifiable statement after another for the mother, but unfortunately, the judge chose to side with Durant and withhold bail. "Durant heard that you hired me for Elizabeth and knew that no matter what amount he set, it would be able to be paid in full. So he changed his position and presented his argument for allowing no bail, which the judge granted no matter how much I pleaded Elizabeth's case and assured them that she would not jump bail."

Sitting down in his leather chair behind his desk, Justus braced his elbows on his desk and clasped his hands together. "This is a major case Jason. Alexis was a respected lawyer, Durant is not going to hold anything back."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Jason sighed with anger and the feeling of helplessness. He shook his head. "Durant hates me and Sonny and now that he knows I am helping Elizabeth, he is going to try to hurt or use her as a way to get to me."

"Probably so, but you know Durant, Jason. This is a huge case, a case that will bring a lot of publicity. He is going to try to do anything to tear into Elizabeth to pin this on her whether she is guilty or not. John Durant does not care who he has to hurt in order to get what he wants. And, yes, you being involved _is_ an extra bonus for him."

"What the hell should I do?"

An arrogant smile appeared across Justus' face. "You hired me for a reason. Trust me to do my job. I won't let them convict Elizabeth."

Jason wanted to believe Justus. He knew Justus was the best, that's why he hired him, that's why he trusted Justus to stand as his lawyer whenever he found himself on trial. He never worried before, but it wasn't him on trial this time. It was Elizabeth, and somehow, he couldn't put his blind trust in Justus being able to pull through. Jason knew that the lawyer would pull no stops in trying to prove Elizabeth's innocence, but it didn't stop Jason from already formulating a plan in his mind to take matters into his own hands if Elizabeth was found guilty.

* * *

Elizabeth was sitting on her cot, knees pulled up to her chest, chin resting on her knees when Jason approached. He could tell by her position and the dim light in her eyes that she wanted to give up. But he could also tell by the way her hands clenched together, the way her face refused to show defeat that she wasn't willing to give up.

Elizabeth was a fighter.

Always had been, always would be.

She looked up and smiled with relief at the sight of him. Jason gave a small smile in return before he looked back at the young guard who escorted him, his glare was purposeful is scaring the guard into retreat, leaving Jason and Elizabeth alone.

"Hey." Her voice was hoarse, causing her to clear her throat as she rose from her cot.

Jason stepped closer to the cell. "How are you holding up?"

"I've been better." Her attempt at dry humor did nothing to ease the tension in neither of them. He knew she was miserable and he hated that he couldn't do anything about it. He felt useless, helpless, and he hated that feeling. It just seemed that other than hiring Justus, there was nothing that he could do in order to help Elizabeth.

"I met with Justus yesterday, and he agreed to take on your case. He was able to set up a bail hearing earlier today." He saw hope glitter within her eyes and hated that his next statement was going to remove that glimmer of hope. "Bail was denied." Just like he predicted, her eyes became dim with disappointment. She lowered her eyes to the concrete floor and dipped her head. But Jason was still able to see the quiver in her lips. Something within him tightened, telling him that he had to reassure her, not allow her to go on thinking all was a lost cause. "Justus assured me that no matter what he was going to win this case."

Elizabeth's lips lifted on one side. "I wish I could have as much faith as he does."

"Hey," His voice was soft, and when she looked up at him, she saw him looking left and then right before he took another step closer to her. His head dipped and if not for the bars separating them, their noses would have touched if one of them took just another step closer. Their eyes connected, held. "No matter _what_ happens," his voice dropped to a gruff whisper. "I will take care of it."

Understanding dawned on her as their gazes continued to hold unwavering. He nodded his head just once, just one slight dip of his head in reassurance to what was running through her mind at that moment. Relief and hope washed over her. She wanted nothing more than to be found innocent. Especially since she _was_ innocent. But with that one statement from Jason, that one nod that told her everything, she knew that even if she were found guilty, she wouldn't spend one day in prison.

She dreaded the thought of having to spend her life on the run, but she could not spend the rest of her life living in a cell, watching her son grow up from behind bars as he visited her every Sunday. She would not allow that for her son. She was a mother and she had to protect Cameron. She couldn't do that being found guilty of a murder she didn't commit.

A quiet agreement passed between the two of them and for the first time since the officers placed handcuffs around her wrists at the hospital, she felt relieved. Elizabeth would still worry herself sick, hoping beyond hope that Justus would be able to prove her innocence. But she was able to breathe easier knowing that no matter what the outcome, she would be able to be there for her son. Whether she raised him in Port Charles like planned, or on some exotic Island she couldn't pronounce the name of. All that mattered was that, because of Jason, everything would be ok.

All she had to do was make it through a couple more days of living in her cell.

"Thank you." Her whispered words of gratitude were breathless with relief.

Jason was never comfortable with any praise, especially when it came from Elizabeth. The way she looked at him, eyes wide with complete trust and beauty. He was never one to blush, but even when they first became friends and she would thank him for helping her decide on a painting or "encouraging" her, as she put it, the way she would smile and look at him so deeply always caused him to dip his head in slight embarrassment. And now, years later, she still had that effect on him.

He knew it would do no good to wave her thanks away. She wouldn't allow that. Instead, he lifted his gaze back to hers and smiled slightly, a warm expression on his face, shining through his eyes. "You're welcome."

Clearing his throat, Jason tucked his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. "Justus is going to come by today to talk to you. He would have come last night, but he was in trial so he couldn't make it. But I was able to give him all of the information he needed for the hearing this morning."

She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she looked away. She licked her lips and crossed her arms over her chest, hugging her stomach as she glanced back at Jason. "Do you….did Justus say why they denied bail?"

"It's not just one thing." He sighed. "Mostly, it's because _I_ hired Justus."

Her forehead scrunched in confusion as she studied his expression that was a mix of regret and guilt. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Durant is the prosecutor for trial. He hates me and—"

She wouldn't let him go on. Shaking her head vigorously, Elizabeth gripped the cool steel bars. "You are in no way responsible for me being in here."

"You would have gotten bail if Durant didn't find out I hired Justus for you."

"And who would have paid for my bail if Durant didn't find out?"

He didn't even hesitate. "I would have."

"Exactly." Tilting her head to the side, Elizabeth let an easy smile appear on her face, "Jason, you are doing too so much as it is. I wouldn't have been able to accept you paying for my bail along with paying for my lawyer but I know that you would have anyway. You have no reason to feel guilty about any of this. I just have to last in here just a little while longer." The smile slipped from her face as she lowered her eyes to the floor, shifting on her feet. "I hate it, but I'll…I'll survive."

"I know."

She wiped away a stray tear that spilled from her eye with an angry swipe of her hand. She sniffed before she looked back up at him, tears glittering in her eyes, but aside from the one tear, none being allowed to spill free. "Could you…could you do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"I know it's not fair of me to ask you for anything more but—"

"Elizabeth, what do you need?" His voice was patient but held that gentle push that encouraged her to ask him for that one last favor.

"Could you watch out for Cameron for me, while I'm in here?" He nodded his head in agreement, but she could see the question in his gaze. "He's most likely with my Grams." At not knowing _exactly_ where her son was, Elizabeth finally let the tears spill free. Since the day he was born, if she were not with Cameron, than Elizabeth knew exactly where he was, who he was with, and always had a phone at hand just to check up on him. Being in jail, having to rely on her Grams to take care of Cameron was devastating. She cleared her throat. "Lucky is really busy with some undercover job and I just... I need to know…"

He placed his hand over hers, squeezing gently when she still didn't look at him. Slowly her glittering eyed met his understanding ones. "I'll check on Cameron."

She let out a shuddering breath. "Thank you, for everything."

His head dipped once as he shook it. "I'm just helping out a friend."

* * *

Sweat pricked the back of his neck. His fingers flexed around his gun as he held it in a death grip. He was told he didn't need the gun, but to bring it along just it case. It was just a precaution.

His muscles tensed as the voices floating through the closed door grew closer. He was told to get in, get the paperwork, and to leave.

Unnoticed.

Nowhere in the simple command was he told that someone might show up, causing his simple _mission_ to go wrong.

His heart was thundering against his chest as he searched the small office for a place to hide. The men who were coming down the hall might not be going into the office, but he wasn't going to take the chance. He tried to squeeze his large shoulders into the kneehole of the desk, but would not fit.

Close to panicking, he searched the office with frantic eyes, gun resting against his thigh.

The doorknob rattled.

Not knowing what else to do, he moved swiftly to stand by the door, hiding from view once it would open.

The doorknob turned.

His breathing became shallow, his heartbeat quickened to a frenzied pace, droplets of sweat stung his eyes as they fell from his forehead.

The door opened.

Only one man came inside, seeing the disarray of the office the man cursed and reached for the gun that was secured in the waistband of his pants. His fingers wrapped around his gun, but before he could pull it out, a shot rang out and a lightning pain pierced through his back. He fell to his knees, gripping his stomach where the bullet exited as another bullet entered his shoulder, pushing him to the floor in a bloody heap. Blackness took over.

He was still standing by the doorway, shaking with the knowledge that he just killed a man.

Alcazar was going to be angry with the knowledge that he screwed up the simple mission the mobster gave him. Alcazar was pacific with his instructions of what to do.

And he screwed it up by killing one of Alcazar's newest enemies.

Staring down at the body lying before him, Lucky listened to hear if anyone was coming. Hearing nothing, he stepped over the dead man and ran from the warehouse.

He had to tell Alcazar exactly what happened.


	6. Chapter 6

**Part Six**

Elizabeth was sitting in the interrogation room waiting for Justus. Jesse had come to her cell a half hour before with the black skirt suit she now wore in his hands. His smile was sympathetic and encouraging when he unlocked her cell and told her that she had to get dressed for court. Elizabeth was surprised that Justus was able to get a court date so quickly. She had only spoken to him the afternoon before, but was relieved that the lawyer was able to move so quickly.

The door opened and Elizabeth's heart leapt in her throat at knowing that the time had finally come. She looked up but instead of Justus coming through the opened doorway, it was Lucky. It had been two days since she had last seen him. He came to see her when he heard of her arrest, and then that was it. She spent the entire day before wondering why her husband couldn't come and visit her. It couldn't have been that hard.

He worked upstairs.

She wanted to be angry with him and question his absence, but she had other things to worry about. Like her freedom.

"I didn't know if you were going to be able to make it."

Lucky paused for a moment before he continued and sat across from her. "Of course I came." Lucky could see the hurt in her eyes and felt bad for not coming to see her but that one time. He wanted to see her, hated thinking about her locked away in a cell, but with the mess that happened with the job he did for Alcazar, he didn't have time. After accidentally killing Escobar's enforcer, Lucky rushed over to Alcazar to inform him of what he had done. Alcazar was pissed, something Lucky expected, but the older man said he would take care of it. He was only allowing Lucky to work for him because he said he owed something to Elizabeth. Lucky didn't know what that was, but once this mess died down, he was going to have to ask Elizabeth what favor she did for Alcazar.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come yesterday. I tried to get here but it was impossible."

Some of the hurt left Elizabeth's expression. She studied Lucky as he fidgeted in his seat, avoided her gaze. "Lucky, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

She wanted to find out why he seemed so jumpy but decided against it. There would be plenty of time to figure that out once she was free. She forced a smile on her face as she reached out and placed her hand over his. "I talked to Justus yesterday and he says that we have a really good chance at winning."

Lucky still hated that Jason was the one who had to get a lawyer for his wife. It was his job to provide for Elizabeth, and he couldn't. That was why he decided to approach Alcazar for a job. At first Alcazar didn't trust Lucky since he was a cop, but after searching and threatening Lucky, Alcazar agreed to listen. Lucky told him about his money problems, and it was when he mentioned needing to provide for Elizabeth that Alcazar seemed to give in. They needed money and Lucky was angry with himself that he wasn't able to get the money sooner in order to take care of the lawyer. It was a punch to his ego that he had to let Jason help.

"I'm glad."

Elizabeth removed her hand from his, frowned. "You don't seem happy."

"It still bothers me that you let Jason take care of this."

"We've been over this—"

"I know, I know. It just still bothers me."

He was just going to have to get over it. Maybe being locked up for a couple of days made her extra cranky, but Elizabeth really could not deal with Lucky's insecurities at the moment.

"How does Justus think you have a really good chance?"

Elizabeth sat back in her chair at his question. It wasn't what he asked but the way he asked it that threw her off. It was like Lucky couldn't possibly believe that Justus would be able to get her off. "For one thing, it's because he believes I'm innocent."

Lucky rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter whether or not Justus believes that you are innocent. What he thinks doesn't matter when it comes to you _being_ innocent."

"What does that mean?"

"Come on Elizabeth, Justus may be a really good lawyer, but all the evidence leads back to you. It's going to be hard for him to prove that you are innocent. He can believe it all he wants, but can he prove it?"

Anger began to build within her. It might have sounded like Lucky was questioning Justus ability to prove her innocence, but the way he was looking at her, the way he spoke, it made her feel that he was questioning _her_, not Justus.

"You seem really confidant in Justus, but what about Durant? He has the evidence on his side…"

"Would you shut up about the damn evidence?" She didn't mean to explode, but she couldn't take it anymore. Lucky should be there reassuring her. Helping her through this, giving her hope that she was going to be ok. Instead, he was just pissing her off. He was trying to make her doubt Justus' ability. But for what? Because his ego was bruised with having Jason helping them out? "I trust Justus to do what he can. I told him exactly what happened and he assured me that—even with the damn evidence—we had a strong case. He's one of the best lawyers out there. Jason wouldn't have hired him if he weren't."

"You're putting a lot of faith into Jason."

"I have to have faith in someone." It was a low blow, she knew it. She spoke in anger to get Lucky from trying to make her question Justus and Jason. She shouldn't have lashed out at him, but she was still too angry to apologize.

Lucky's expression was one of hurt and anger. He took a minute to cool off before he leaned forward in his chair. "I didn't come here to fight Elizabeth, I'm sorry." He reached over out and covered her hands with one of his. "I'm just worried about you. It's not because of Jason. I just want to make sure that Justus is going to be able to get the jury to believe you are innocent."

Believe.

_Believe_ you are innocent.

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed.

She studied Lucky or a moment. Her eyes never left his face and when he did make eye contact with her, he looked away within seconds. "You still think I killed Alexis."

Lucky's eyes snapped back to hers, held and then fell away once hers became too intense. Anger radiated off of her. "I don't…I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Elizabeth, I'm a cop. I'm trained to study evidence, find evidence, believe in evidence. I—"

"You also promised to _believe_ in me."

"I do believe in you."

"No you don't. If you believed in me, you would take my word. I told you I didn't kill Alexis. Not on purpose and defiantly not on accident! Why can't you believe me?"

"I can." He spoke with desperation. He could see the change in her expression. She was closing herself off from him. She was hurt that he didn't believe her, but at that moment, Lucky didn't know what to believe. He was trained to follow evidence. He loved Elizabeth and should always believe her.

Elizabeth should tell him what she and Jason thought. That someone pushed Alexis in the water and when the lawyer didn't die, that same person came to her hospital room and killed her. But right now, she didn't want to tell him. She was so angry with him, so upset that he didn't trust her with this; she decided she needed time away from him.

The door opened, Justus walked in followed by Jason. Lucky stood when the two men came into the room. Lucky's expression showed clearly that he didn't want Jason there but the other man didn't even look at him.

Justus smiled at Elizabeth, mistaking the look on her face as being nervous. "It's time Elizabeth."

Elizabeth stood as a uniformed officer stepped into the room. Her eyes shot to Jason and although to everyone else he looked bored, she saw the slight nod of his head, the message in his eyes that everything was going to be ok.

No matter what.

Elizabeth walked past Lucky and out the door with the three men following her. She turned around and settled her empty eyes on Lucky. Her voice was as empty as her eyes. "Go home Lucky."

All three men looked confused at her statement. Jason's forehead scrunched, Justus's lips formed a frown and Lucky's faced crumbled in upset. "Why?"

"There's no need for you to go with me."

"I want to be there for you Elizabeth."

"I only need people there who support me." With that, Elizabeth turned around and walked away with a confused Justus and her police guard.

Jason stood back, glancing at Elizabeth's retreating form with confusion before he turned his attention to Lucky. "What did you do to her?"

Lucky was staring at Elizabeth, upset that she told him to leave, hurt that she walked away, angry that he caused it all. He didn't even glance at Jason as he walked away. "Go with Elizabeth Jason, she needs you."

Jason watched as Lucky walked away, head bent, a pitiful expression across his face. Whatever Lucky had said to Elizabeth, it hurt them both. Jason didn't care about Lucky, but he did care about Elizabeth and didn't want her anymore upset that she already was. Shaking Lucky from his mind, Jason followed after Justus and Elizabeth.

* * *

Jason stepped outside the courtroom not knowing what to think. Both Durant and Justus made their opening statements, both men making valid points. Jason had sat behind Elizabeth, holding back the urge to place his hand on her shoulder every time he saw her tense when Durant pointed her out, mentioned something about the night Alexis died that led back to Elizabeth. Durant even brought up her past with him as an example of Elizabeth's character. Jason hated that—because they were friends and at one time something more—Elizabeth was made to look like a criminal.

Witnesses were called up to the stands and after a day of sitting in court, he could not tell how the outcome was going to be. Jason knew that Elizabeth would allow him to help her escape, but he also knew that she wanted nothing more than to be found innocent.

Elizabeth was on her way back to her cell and even though Jason wanted to be with her, talk to her, he had to wait. He would go home, change from his suit, and then see her. That way, he wouldn't be seen leaving with them, something Justus said might help since Durant kept bringing Jason up in relation to Elizabeth's past.

He was on his way to the exit when someone cleared their throat behind him. The hallway was empty except for Manny Ruiz. Jason squared his shoulders and narrowed his eyes as the shorter man stepped closer. "What do you want?"

Many tisked as he shook his head. "Always so rude. You need to learn some manners Morgan."

Jason took a step closer, giving the other man an icy stare. "What do you want?"

Many shrugged his shoulder, looked to the left then back up at Jason. The smirk never leaving his face. "How is it that Elizabeth is on trial for a murder your girlfriend committed?" Jason continued to glare at him. "I saw you come in with Elizabeth, sit behind her as a show of support. You even hired her lawyer. Are you trying to cover something up Jason?"

Jason's eyes narrowed. Manny continued. "Being a janitor is beneficial, you know. You become invincible. People will walk by you and not even know it."

"Say what you have to say."

"I was just wondering if you thought about what I told you." Manny straightened his tie, pulled at the bottom of his suit jacket. "Do you need me to refresh your memory?" He asked, ticking his head back and forth. "Sam was at the hospital the night Alexis died. I saw her leave Alexis's room." Manny paused. "Is any of this ringing a bell with you?"

Jason's jaw clenched. Manny still continued. "You better start thinking about this Morgan. I happen to like Elizabeth." A smile spread across his face, "She's always been nice to me, helping me out. She is very nice to look at…"

"Leave Elizabeth alone."

"I'd hate to see her take the fall for something she didn't do. You know, I'm a changed man, I happen to care about what happens to other people. Especially if I can help them." The expression on Manny's face was a clear indication that he wasn't a changed man. He was taking great pleasure in messing with Jason.

A woman came walking down the hallway. Seeing her, Manny patted Jason on the arm and walked away, chuckling to himself. Jason's hands clenched at his sides as he watched the man walk away.

With Manny gone, Jason was now alone with his thoughts. He didn't believe the man. Manny was sadistic, he'd do anything; say anything to piss Jason off.

Sitting down on a nearby bench, Jason clasped his hands between his spread knees and bent his head in thought. What would Manny gain by putting the blame of Alexis's death on Sam? He didn't seem to be threatening Jason, only taunting him with the fact that he saw Sam at the hospital.

Could Sam have killed Alexis?

No, she couldn't. She would tell him if anything happened. Jason knew that Sam held a lot of anger towards Alexis, she hated the older woman. But to kill her and cover it up? Could Sam be that manipulative?

He felt guilty for even thinking it, but Sam had changed since she found out Alexis was her mother. Even more so since Alexis was killed. She never kept her hatred for Alexis hidden. But recently she became more hostile.

Jason couldn't help but think of the past few days, the conversations he had with Sam about Alexis. Rage filled Sam's eyes whenever she spoke about her mother. He didn't think much of it at the time, but he couldn't stop thinking about it now.

Sam could have killed Alexis.

But why didn't she tell him? Why would she hide it? Why would she let Elizabeth, someone who has been nothing but kind to Sam, take the blame for it. When Sam found out that Elizabeth was arrested, she blew it off, didn't seem to care. But when she found out that he was planning on helping Elizabeth, Sam became upset. She didn't want him to help Elizabeth. Could Sam really be that heartless to let Elizabeth take the blame for something she did and not even think twice about it?

Shaking his head, Jason stood up. He couldn't believe that. Sam was the woman he loved. She trusted him. She would tell him if anything happened. She wasn't cold or heartless. She was just going through a hard time.

Sam couldn't have killed Alexis.

Could she?

Jason turned towards the exit when Patrick Drake jogged up to him. "I'm glad I found you. I went to the courtroom but it was empty and I didn't want to spend my entire day tracking you down." When Jason continued to stare at him, Patrick placed his hands on his hips. "I found something."

Both men looked around the empty hallway before they looked back at each other. Jason's voice was low. "What?"

"You're not going to like it."

His hand sliced through the air. "Just tell me."

Patrick shrugged. He was only working with Jason because he believed the other man could help Elizabeth. Standing in front of him, Patrick was glad that he had recruited Robin to help him. With someone else knowing, Jason wouldn't be able to take the information Patrick was about to give him and use it to his advantage. When they first agreed to work together, Patrick didn't think he was going to find out what he did. "I found a strand of hair on Alexis' gown. I sent it to the lab and we found a match."

"We?"

"Robin has been helping me." When Jason's eyes narrowed, Patrick stuck his hands up. "I trust Robin a hell of a lot more than I trust you. The only thing that matters right now is getting Elizabeth's name clear. And now we can."

Jason's shoulders dropped in relief. Patrick found the evidence that was going to set Elizabeth free.

"I'm only telling you first because I agreed to help you if you helped me. Robin is going to head down to the police station with the evidence. She wanted me to tell you first."

"What?"

"The strand of hair I found on Alexis belongs to Sam McCall."

Jason's eyes widened as he stared at Patrick. His eyes lost focus as one thought ran through his mind.

Sam killed Alexis.


	7. Chapter 7

**Part Seven**

She was standing there, her hair cascading down her back, wearing a dress that molded to all of her curves. She turned when she heard him enter, a smile gracing her face, showcasing her happiness.

She looked beautiful.

A fury he had never felt before raged through his body.

"Hey." She greeted in a low, raspy voice as she came closer to him. She went to throw her arms over his shoulders so that she could kiss him. He stepped back, grabbing her wrists to ward off her approach and kiss he didn't want. "What's wrong?" She asked, confused.

He didn't know what to say. All he knew was that he couldn't stand her touch right now; couldn't stand being near her. His stomach was turning, his chest tight. He felt sick. Dropping her wrists, he shook his head as he pulled his suit jacket off. Throwing the jacket on the back of his desk chair, he walked around her and towards the fire place that held pictures of his loved ones. A picture of the two of them.

"Jason. What's wrong?"

"I just left Elizabeth's trial." His spoke in a flat voice.

Silence followed.

He stared at the picture of the two of them. She looked happy, _they_ looked happy. He didn't hear her approach, only knew she was right behind him when she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Was she found guilty?" Sam felt the muscles of his shoulders tighten under her hand. "I was watching the news but I had to turn it off. They kept going on and on about Alexis and I couldn't stand watching it anymore. I didn't think they would come up with a verdict so soon. I—"

"They didn't."

Her hand slid down from his shoulder, along his forearm, until she reached his hand. Just as she was about to grab his hand in hers to make him turn around, Jason's hand lifted towards the mantle.

Sam crossed her arms under her chest, hurt that he was being distant with her. "It doesn't look good for her does it?" She rolled her eyes when he said nothing. "Jason, I know that you don't want to believe that Elizabeth killed Alexis, but everything leads back to her. I know that you have been trying to help her but you can't fix everything. You can't blame yourself."

"I don't blame myself."

"Then what the hell is going on?"

"What were you doing in Alexis' hospital room that night?"

A stunned gasp filled the silence after his question. "What?"

When Jason turned around he held the picture of the two of them in his hands. His knuckles were white he held the frame so tightly. His eyes were cold, empty, dead, as they bore into hers. A chill ran down Sam's spine. "I-I-I wasn't."

He continued to stare at her with a nothingness that scared and confused her. "I…Jason I didn't go to her room. I didn't even know she was in the hospital until we found out she was dead."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not!" Sam took a step forward, stopped when realization hit her. "You don't think I killed Alexis?" Her heart was beating heavy against her chest. He couldn't have found out, there was no way. She had to make him believe her. "I didn't kill her!" Tears sprang to her eyes as she looked up at him with hurt.

Sam lowered her eyes; a tear fell down her cheek. When she spoke she whispered in a pained voice. "How can you think I killed Alexis?"

"You hate her more than anything…"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I killed her. I—"

Jason moved forward. His hands dropped down to his sides, the picture frame slammed against his thigh. "You've told me before how much you hated her because she ruined your life. She killed your baby. Screamed at you until you went into labor, causing you to loose your child." It sickened him to use the baby he planned on raising with Sam like this, but he needed to get the truth out of her.

Sam's body began to shake with anger at Alexis and everything she did. Her eyes narrowed, her lips pinched tight as she clenched her teeth.

Jason went on. "She killed your brother. Danny would be alive right now if she would have let him have the antidote like you begged her to do. But she didn't, she took the antidote for herself and Danny died."

"Stop!" She screamed as she turned away from him, covering her ears as she shook her head.

"She's made your life miserable Sam. Without her we would be raising your baby together, Danny would be here." Every word, every excuse that exited his mouth was said because he knew it would cause her to break.

It worked.

Sam spun around, her hands clenched in her hair. "You're right! I hate her; I hate her so much that I killed her!" She swiped angrily at her cheeks to wipe away the tears that continued to fall from her eyes. "Alexis was a selfish bitch who didn't deserve to live." She took in a deep breath, calming her nerves. She crossed her arms under her chest again. Shrugging her shoulders, she said, "So I did something about it."

"Why didn't you come to me?"

"I had it all figured out. Everything worked out just fine."

Jason's anger began to rise. The woman standing before him was not the same person he had grown to love. It was like he was talking to a stranger. "So instead of coming to me after you killed Alexis, you let someone else take the blame."

Pursing her lips, Sam tilted her head to the side. "I didn't know Elizabeth was going to be arrested. It's not like I framed her."

His breathing grew heavy. "You let Elizabeth go to jail for a murder you knew she didn't commit. Why didn't you tell me?"

"What does it matter?"

"What does it matter? What the hell do you mean what does it matter?" He didn't disguise the disgust in his voice.

"Alexis deserved what she got. I wasn't going to go to jail because I did this town a favor by riding it of her. I felt bad for Elizabeth, but come on Jason, what was I supposed to do?"

"You should have come to me!" He shouted, stabbing his finger to his chest. "You should have come to me when you found out Elizabeth was being charged for something _you_ did." Why could she not see what she had done by not coming to him? She knew that he loved her, why didn't she trust him to help her?

Sam's eyes narrowed, "What would you have done? Turned me in to save _Elizabeth_?" She spat the other woman's name as if Elizabeth did something wrong. She was the only innocent one in the entire situation.

"I could have helped you both. But you didn't come to me. You let Elizabeth go to jail and you were going to go on like nothing happened."

"Damn right I was. Like I said, I felt bad for Elizabeth but the only way to help her out would be to admit that I was the one who killed Alexis."

Jason took a step back, his fingers clenched around the picture frame at his side. "You didn't even want me to help her. When I found out that she was arrested, you didn't want me to go see her. You didn't care or even feel bad for her. It didn't matter to you who took the blame; all you cared about was that you were safe because someone else was being charged."

She looked away when he stared through her. "It didn't matter to you that Elizabeth has a son that needs her. She didn't do anything to deserve this but you didn't care. You were going to let her spend the rest of her life in prison while you continued to lie to me and live your life even though you ruined hers."

"I did what I had to do." She shrugged. It didn't matter what he said to her, she would continue to think that what she did was right, no matter how many lives she ruined to save her own.

"Elizabeth did not deserve this!"

"I didn't deserve to have Alexis as a mother!"

The fury that had been building within him since the moment he entered his penthouse bubbled to an all consuming anger. He couldn't see straight, couldn't think. All he could do was see Elizabeth in her jail cell, curled into the corner on her cot, tears streaming down her face as she asked him to watch out for her son. She put all of her faith, her trust, into him to help her through this. Yet, the woman that claimed to love him, the woman who he planned to spend the rest of his life with didn't even trust him to help her. She lied to him, was going to allow an innocent woman who had everything going for her to go to jail. And she didn't even seem to care.

Cursing, Jason spun around, throwing the picture of the two of them against the fireplace mantle. The wooden frame splintered, glass shattered all over the floor. He was breathing hard as he turned around to glare at her. She was looking at him with wide eyes, her mouth opened in shock. His voice was deadly calm when he spoke. "You've lied and you've manipulated me ever since I found out Alexis was dead, maybe even before that." Her mouth opened to protest, his hand slicing through the air silenced her. "Like mother like daughter, right?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She asked, angry with him now. Angry that he should care so much about what happened to Elizabeth, angry that he was angry with her for saving herself. So what if Elizabeth took the blame. Jason didn't love Elizabeth, he loved her, he should be happy that she wasn't going to go to jail.

Jason's hands were clenched into fists at his sides, his jaw tight, his eyes cold. "You always said how Alexis didn't care about anyone else but her self. You've told me over and over how she caused you to lose your baby to save Kristina; that she let Danny die so that she could live. As long as Alexis got what she wanted she didn't care who she had to hurt to get it." He raised his eyebrows. "You're the same way. You killed Alexis and let Elizabeth take the blame. As long as you were safe you didn't care."

"Don't you dare compare me to her."

"Why? It's true." His anger at what she had done, at finding out exactly who she was caused him to lash out. He couldn't stand to be near her any longer, couldn't look at her anymore. Shaking his head, Jason walked past her and towards the door.

"What…where are you going?"

He didn't answer her. He was reaching for the doorknob when she ran up to him, clamping her hands on his arm. "Don't leave, please. I know…I know you are angry, but I-I," she had to think. She couldn't let him leave. "I was scared when everything happened. I wasn't thinking. Please!"

Jason tried to shrug her hands off of his arm but she was holding on too tight. He turned around to peal her hands off of him. When he freed his arm, her hands reached up and cupped his face. He allowed himself to look at her that moment.

"Please, let's just talk about this some more. I love you Jason. Don't leave." Her eyes softened when his hands reached up and covered hers. A small smile appeared on her face.

Her smile disappeared when he curled his fingers around hers in a bruising force, pulling her hands away from him as if they burned his skin.

Her eyes opened in fear as he turned around to open the door once more. "What are you going to do? Are…are you going to turn me in?" He pulled open the door. "You can't do this! You love me Jason, don't do this!"

The door slammed behind him.

Max turned when he heard the screaming, seeing Jason stalk out of his penthouse, slamming the door. The look on his boss's face stopped the question that he was forming. Instead of speaking, he waited as Jason closed his eyes and shook his head, calming his anger.

Jason finally noticed Max standing in the hallway. He nodded his head once in greeting, "Thanks for coming."

Max cleared his throat, shuffled from one foot to the other. "Sure thing. What do you need?"

"I need you to stay here and make sure that no one comes in and Sam doesn't leave."

"Ok." Max answered, confused but knowing better than to question what Jason wanted.

Jason moved towards the elevator. He paused before entering. "No matter what, Sam is not to leave." He swallowed thickly. "When…when the police get here, let them in."

With that, Jason entered the elevator, leaving a very confused Max staring after him.

* * *

Once the elevator doors closed, Jason fell heavily against the back wall. Nothing made sense to him at that moment. He couldn't process how Sam had done what she had done and not have cared. She hurt him by not going to him when she killed Alexis. Jason knew that she had to have been the one to push Alexis into the harbor, and when she didn't die, Sam went to the hospital room to finish what she started.

Jason didn't know how he should feel about Sam killing Alexis. But what mattered to him was that she was going to let Elizabeth go to jail because of it. She was going to sit back and not mention anything to him.

Sam was not the woman he thought she was.

He wished he could have helped her, could handle the situation differently. But she was the one who caused it to end as it was. Jason couldn't help her after what she had done. He owed it to Elizabeth, to her faith in him, to their friendship to make sure that Sam was handled correctly.

It still pained him. It pained him beyond belief to turn his back on her. They were planning a future together, wanted to have a family. They had been through so much together and, at times, Jason believed he wouldn't have been able to make it through certain times without her by his side.

But she had changed. The woman who stood beside him during those times wasn't manipulative and heartless.

Sam was no longer the woman he loved.

The chirp of his cell phone caused him to pause as he stepped off the elevator into the Harborview parking garage. Reaching into his pocket, Jason was ready to turn his phone off thinking it was Sam calling. But when he looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Enzo, the guard he ordered to watch Elizabeth's son, Jason flipped the phone open.

He didn't know the extent of the call, but before he answered Jason could feel that something was wrong

"What happened?" He asked; dread filling his voice but not knowing why.

Yet.

Jason didn't wait for Enzo to finish talking before he set out on a run towards his bike.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

"Who are you working for?"

The sound of bone slamming against bone echoed throughout the warehouse. Jason didn't even wince as he pulled his arm back again and slammed his gloved encased fist against the man's face once more before repeating the question. And just like the last couple of times he voiced the question, Jason didn't wait for an answer. His arm was already veering back in ready for his next solid punch.

The man sitting before him slouched forward, begging for mercy. Jason showed him none. Two more blows to the mans stomach and Jason finally stepped back. Fury boiled throughout his entire body as his cold blue eyes glared at the man tied to the chair before him.

His entire body shook, had been since the moment he got the phone call about Cameron. Enzo had called him, breathing heavily from fighting off the man sitting in the chair. He had tried to kidnap Cameron from the park where Audrey was allowing him to play in the sand box. The man knocked Audrey out before Enzo could get to him. Had Enzo not been watching over Cameron from a distance, the toddler would be missing.

"Who the _fuck_ are you working for?"

Enzo's hand on his arm stopped Jason from slamming his fist in the mans already bloody face once more. He wanted to get information but the anger running through him was too consuming.

"I…" the man stalled, Jason's hand gripped the back of the man's head and pulled. He tugged once, twice. "Escobar!"

Jason didn't let his confusion show. He couldn't make any connections between Elizabeth and Escobar. The only thing that would make sense would be some type of retaliation against Lucky because he was a cop and might have arrested one of Escobar's men. But that didn't make sense. Jason made a point to know of all the dealings with his enemies, even when it came to arrests. A simple arrest wouldn't cause this, not unless it led to a major case and there was nothing of the sort going on at the moment.

"What did Escobar want with the boy?"

Jason's eyebrows rose when the man didn't answer immediately. He yanked hard on his hair, and hit him once again, blood oozing out of a new wound on the man's forehead. Jason let go of his hair and placed one hand around the almost unconscious man's neck, squeezing as he stared into his eyes.

"Please…"

"Answer me!" He squeezed harder.

"He killed Miguel!"

Jason's hands relaxed against the man's throat. "Who did?"

"The boy's father. He…" he coughed for several moments before continuing. "Spencer, he's working for Alcazar. Escobar wanted to take the boy as a message."

When the hell did Lucky start working for Alcazar and how did he not see it? Jason groused. But somehow, according to the lowlife slouching in front of him, Lucky was working for Alcazar and somehow managed to kill Escobar's enforcer. And now he was putting his family in danger because he was working for Alcazar and not protecting them. Cameron could be dead right now because Lucky was messing with the wrong people.

He would take care of it when he could, but at that moment he needed to get to the police station and to Elizabeth. Stepping away from the man who was close to whimpering in his chair, Jason gave Enzo a knowing look.

He stared at the man before turning his gaze to Enzo.

"Send Escobar a message."

Jason walked away without a second glance. As he opened the doors leading to the front of the warehouse he heard a plea for life before a shot rang out.

* * *

Lucky stood by the docks, staring out into the water. He had just gotten off the phone with Alcazar who, despite the screw up Lucky had with killing Escobar's enforcer, given Lucky another chance at earning more money.

His job was simple, not nearly as risky as sneaking onto Escobar's property to steal paperwork. All Lucky had to do now was act as an inside man, something Alcazar realized should have been done from the first time Lucky approached him. Lucky worked at the police station, could gain access to files and evidence that would benefit Alcazar's business.

As the inside man, Lucky would be able to warn Alcazar of what the police had on the mob's operations, help set other enemies up for arrests, and even destroy evidence against Alcazar.

Lucky was just putting his phone back inside his jeans pocket when he was jerked from behind and slammed against the railing of the stairs. His arm was twisted behind his back causing him an immense amount of pain that his knees went weak.

His face was pushed into the railing of the staircase, the wood splintering and pricking his cheek.

Jason held him against the staircase, breathing heavily, seeing red. He had just left the warehouse where Enzo was finishing off the man who tried to kidnap Cameron. Jason was on his way to the police station to be there when Elizabeth was released, knowing that Robin had to have gotten to the police station already. They were going to have trouble making the evidence stick since Patrick and Robin worked on Alexis without a warrant. But Elizabeth _was_ going to be set free and the real murderer was going to be arrested.

He would make sure of it.

He had just reached the docks when he saw Lucky standing by the water. Anger made him lash out and attack Lucky before he thought about it. Lucky put Cameron and Elizabeth in danger by working for Alcazar and not seeing to their safety. He was working for one of Jason's enemies. With the fury still in him from dealing with the other man; Jason took the rest of it out on Lucky.

He gripped Lucky's shoulders and spun him around; slamming his fist into Lucky's face before the other man even processed who was attacking him.

Lucky staggered backwards into the railing. His hand covered his jaw as he stared wide eyed at Jason. "What the hell was that for?"

Jason didn't answer. He stalked forward, clenched his hands in Lucky's shirt and slammed his back against the staircase railing. "Are you working for Alcazar?"

When Lucky's eyes opened even wider, Jason clenched his jaw and punched Lucky in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

Gasping for breath, Lucky tried to block Jason's fist from hitting his face and felt pain shoot up his arm from where Jason's fist met. "It's not… wait! I can explain."

Jason shoved Lucky away from him and took a step back. He stood glaring at the younger man as he waited for Lucky to regain some composure. His arms were braced at his sided, hands clenched into tight fists ready to lash out when needed. Lucky was taking his sweet time to explain making Jason want to punch him a few more times. He didn't have time to wait around.

"I needed money."

"So you went to Alcazar?"

"It's really none of your business, Morgan."

Jason took a step closer and stopped when Lucky backed away, putting his hands up. "He was the only person I could think of." He rushed out. "I just needed extra money to get everything situated again with my hospital bills. Elizabeth was working extra hours, practically killing herself. I couldn't provide for my family so I went to Alcazar to get a small job, something that would give me enough to get us settled again."

"How did you end up killing Miguel?" Jason's voice was chilling.

"I didn't…" Lucky stammered when he saw Jason's gaze darken. "It was a mistake. No one was supposed to be there. I just had to get some information for Alcazar and then leave. Escobar's enforcer showed up and I had no other choice."

Jason shook his head. Lucky was a fucking idiot. "You don't know what you got yourself into working for Alcazar."

Lucky's shoulders straightened as he tried to muster up some pride. His chest puffed out as he spoke. "I know what I'm doing. I can take care of myself."

"I don't give a damn about you can do." Jason snapped. "I could careless if you get killed working for Alcazar, it would be your own fault." He moved closer to Lucky, stood inches away from him. "Alcazar has enemies that won't think twice about hurting innocent woman and children in retaliation."

Jason's eyebrows rose as he continued, speaking to Lucky as if he were instructing a child. "You can't just work in this business and expect to be safe. You have a family, Lucky. And you did nothing to protect them."

"What are you talking about?"

"Did you think you could work for Alcazar and kill Escobar's enforcer and no one would find out?" When Lucky's face lost all color, Jason nodded. "Someone tried to kidnap Cameron today as a message to you."

"What? Where is he? Is he ok? How—"

For some reason, the concern in Lucky's voice and expression sickened Jason. "He's safe." Not wanting to waste anymore time on the man, Jason walked past Lucky. He made it up half of the steps before he turned around and glared down at Lucky.

"If I find out your still working for Alcazar, I'm going to have to kill you."

* * *

He didn't wait to see Lucky's expression, only turned back around and headed the rest of the way back up the stairs.

After speaking with Justus after her court date that morning, Elizabeth sat on her cot for most of the day, thinking about what her future would hold for her. At the moment she had no inclination as to what the outcome of her trial would be. Would the jury find her guilty or innocent? Durant made some logical points, and, like Lucky had repeatedly told her since she had been arrested, the evidence was on his side.

She hadn't eaten all day, not like she could stomach another meal the guards brought her anyway. A sickening churning had been evident in her stomach since Justus left her. She spent most of her day trying to hold back tears, and doing a damn good job at it, too.

All she had to do was remind herself over and over that even if the jury did find her guilty, she would still be free.

Jason would make sure of it.

The hairs suddenly standing on the back of her neck caused Elizabeth to look up from her cot. As her gaze lifted from her bent knees to the cell gates, a shivering fear raced through her. The man standing there was dressed liked a guard, wore the uniform that she had seen everyday. But the look in his eyes, the cold—almost murderous—glint to his black eyes caused her to shiver.

Her heartbeat quickened as she stared into his evil eyes. When he smiled, a menacing lift of one side of his mouth, her breathing stopped all together. A feeling of dread washed over her, something that caused her to almost go into a panic. She couldn't explain it, but she felt as if this man had come to kill her.

And when he placed the keys into the lock, opening her jail cell, Elizabeth knew she was right.

Scrambling to her feet, Elizabeth rushed to the other side of the cell, still not far enough away from him for her liking. She opened her mouth to scream for help but stopped when he suddenly whipped out a knife. His eyes narrowed. "Scream and I'll kill you right now."

Even his voice was evil.

Swallowing, Elizabeth pressed her back into the brick wall of her cell. One hand reached out to wrap around a bar that separated her cell from the empty one next to hers. "What do you want?" Her voice was raspy as she spoke against the knot of fear clogging her throat.

That menacing smile was back in place as he stepped forward slowly. Elizabeth tried to push herself as far back into the wall as she could. Her eyes darted to the entrance to the hallway that led to her cell. Guards made round trips through the halls like clockwork. But no one was coming now. Was anyone going to come?

As if reading her mind, the man clucked his tongue. "No one is going to save you." His accent was thick.

He continued to stalk forward. Elizabeth closed her eyes when he was close enough, his breath fanning across her face. She squeezed her eyes tighter when she felt the small bite and coolness of his knife against her throat. She tried to turn her head away when he bent his head closer but the knife pricked her skin.

Rafael stared at the scarred woman before him with pleasure. When he was given his assignment to go to the police station, he wasn't told how beautiful Spencer's wife was. He had a specific assignment to fulfill but suddenly felt the need to fulfill his own wants before he finished the assignment.

His finger traced her jaw, his thumb coming to rest on her lower lip. "You're a very beautiful woman."

Elizabeth could feel the tears filling her tightly closed lids. When one spilled free, he caught it with his thumb. "What do you want from me?" She chocked out.

His cheek grazed hers as he whispered against her ear. "There's a lot I want from you."

Elizabeth felt his hand move from her face and lower to her breast. He cupped her roughly. Her mind began to scream. This was not happening to her. Not again.

Anger suddenly replaced fear causing a strength she didn't even know she had flow through every muscle in her. Elizabeth planted her hands against Rafael's chest as she shoved with all her might, causing the man to stagger away from her. He lost his footing and fell on his back, the knife sliding from his hand.

The gate to her cell was still open and Elizabeth ran straight for it. She just made it to the opening when Rafael reached out and grabbed her ankle. He pulled on her ankle, causing Elizabeth to fall forward. The wind was knocked out of her temporally when she fell on the hard concrete floor. When the air made its way back into her lungs she saw Rafael moving to his knees. She kicked out with all her might, screaming on the top of her lungs; hoping that someone, anyone, would hear her and come to her rescue if she couldn't get out of there on her own.

She kicked again, the heel of her shoe landing right against Rafael's nose. He screamed, both hands covering his now bloody nose. "Bitch!" He growled when he pulled his hands away and saw the blood covering his palms.

Elizabeth made her way to the opening again. She ran down the hallway. She didn't look back to see if he was following her but knew he was close behind. One moment she was running to save her life, the next she was tripping as Rafael grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked.

He pulled her back against his chest and pushed her forward into the bars of a cell. Elizabeth's face was pressed between two bars. Frustrated tears burned her cheeks. She was _so_ close to escaping. That thought caused another and when she screamed out, Rafael's hand covered her mouth. "No one can hear you."

She fought against him. The back of her head hit his chin; she bit the hand that was covering her mouth.

Rafael shook her, pressing his body more against hers. "I was going to let you live… for a price of course." He added as one hand grouped her. Elizabeth fought harder. "But now I'm just going to kill you for that little stunt."

He spun her around to face him. "I dropped my knife back there so we're going to have to do this the hard way." He said as his hands reached up to cover her throat.

Elizabeth panicked as his hands closed around her throat. "Please… please don't do this."

"It's too late to start begging now, baby."

The endearment coming from his mouth, said in the way he spoke it made Elizabeth stomach lurch. But she had to stall, had to try and save herself. "Please, I have…" tears clouded her vision. "…I have a son. He needs me. Please don't do this."

He smiled again, his hands still around her throat but loose. "You don't have to worry about that little boy anymore. He wont need you."

She couldn't breathe. "What do you mean?"

"This is all just a message." He answered, the smile never leaving his face. "It's sad that such a beautiful woman has to suffer because of her man, but it's the price you pay for messing with the wrong people."

"I don't understand." None of this was making sense to her. What did Lucky have to do with this man attacking her and what did he mean by his comment about Cameron?

Rafael pressed his body against hers even more. "Your husband has messed with the wrong people. You don't screw around with Escobar and expect to walk away without retaliation." He paused, his smile growing. "You and that boy is Escobar's retaliation."

Elizabeth's knees went weak. Her breathing became harsh and a new fear began to build within her. "What have you done with my son?" Fear made her choke the words out.

"I can't go on telling you every secret now can I?" He scolded before his smile widened. "But your going to die anyway so I guess it doesn't hurt to let you know what our plans for your son are." He looked left then right, allowing a dramatic pause to occur. Bile filled her throat. In a whisper, Rafael leaned forward. "As we speak, your little boy's body is probably being left on the doorstep to your apartment."

"No!" Strength found its way back into Elizabeth's weary body. She shoved Rafael away as she screamed. Kicking and punching with all her might. He stumbled away but when she went to run she didn't make it very far. Tears clouded her vision as she thought of her little boy, not believing that he could be dead.

Elizabeth made it a few steps but was suddenly sprawled on her back with Rafael over her. She continued to scream. She screamed for help, for Cameron, for mercy.

Just when Rafael lifted his hand to slap her across her face, mercy finally took her side as he was suddenly pulled away from her. Elizabeth tried to stop her tears so she could see who was with her. She heard voices, grunting, and through her agony over losing her baby, she heard someone call out her name.

Opening her eyes, Elizabeth saw Mac kneeling over her. He was holding her shoulders, calling her name as he tried to calm her. "Elizabeth, its ok now, he can't hurt you."

"Cameron…" she croaked out, gasping for breath. She tried again but couldn't get the words out. She couldn't breathe. "Please…I…Cameron, he's gone. I need…I need Jason."

And then he was there.

Jason knelt beside her, his chest still heaving from the struggle he just had with Rafael. He had just arrived to the police station when Robin was finishing up explaining to Mac the evidence she and Patrick found on Alexis's body. Jason waited for a little bit, wanting to make sure that they were going to release Elizabeth before he gave her the news. He didn't know how he was going to tell her that Sam, the woman he had loved, had let Elizabeth take the blame for killing Alexis when Sam was actually to blame. All he knew was that he had to tell her so that she would know that she was going to be set free.

He had just been in the process of signing in to go and see her when he heard her screams. Not even waiting for the guard to let him through, Jason pushed past him and ran to her. He almost fell down the stairs that led to the holding cells where she was a few times because he was skipping two and three steps at a time to get to her.

When he reached the bottom, the sight before him caused the anger he felt all day explode. His talk with Sam, finding out that someone tried to kidnap Cameron, fighting with Lucky on the docks; he held most of his anger back. But seeing a man on top of Elizabeth, his hand drawn back to strike her as she screamed for her life made it all come forward.

He had heard Mac behind him but didn't wait. Rushing forward, Jason ripped the man away from Elizabeth and let his anger out on Rafael.

Jason reached out and pulled Elizabeth against his chest. He held her in a tight embrace as he whispered words of comfort for her to calm down. Through her hysterics she looked up at him. The pain in her eyes tore at him. "They killed Cameron."

Jason shook his head. "No they didn't. He—"

"He told me!" She screamed, fresh tears sliding down her cheeks. "He said that…that…" she was breathing hard again, words unable to come out.

"Look at me." When she wouldn't look at him Jason cupped her cheek and forced her to face towards his, her eyes still downcast. "Look at me." He repeated with more force until she lifted her eyes to his. "Cameron is safe; he is with my guard Enzo. I just left him."

"But…"

"Someone did try to kidnap him but Enzo was watching after Cameron and Audrey since you asked me to watch out for him." His thumb began to move along her cheek when he saw her relief. "He's safe, Elizabeth."

"Thank you."

Elizabeth closed her eyes and rested against his chest, the entire ordeal catching up with her. She felt Jason's arms squeeze her closer to him. Mac's soft voice interrupted her silent moment.

"Elizabeth, do you think you could tell me what happened."

Before she could answer, Jason's hard voice spoke for her. "She was just attacked Mac. Can't you let her calm down before you start questioning her?"

"I just figured I would ask her now so that we could get this done with quickly so I can release her."

"Release me?" Elizabeth lifted her head from Jason's chest and looked up at Mac. She suddenly realized that both she and Jason were still sitting on the floor. She slowly pushed away from Jason as she stood up. Jason stood behind her as she faced Mac, his hands on her shoulders. "What did you mean…?"

Giving Elizabeth a smile, Mac nodded his head. "We found out who really killed Alexis. You're free to leave." His smile faltered. "As soon as we find out what happened here."

"I'm free to go?" Elizabeth turned around to face Jason. She smiled up at him, the joy evident in her eyes. "I'm free." She whispered.

Jason nodded; the tightness in his chest grew tighter at her smile. Elizabeth stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Thank you." She whispered against his chest.

Leaning his head back, Jason looked down at her, the confusion on his face. "For what?"

She didn't answer him with words. Only gave him a look telling him that she knew it was because of him that the real murderer was found. He would have to tell her that Patrick and Robin were really the ones who found out that Sam was the killer, but he would wait until they were alone. There was a lot that they needed to talk about. His apologies for what Sam put her through, what Lucky was up to, and more.

But all of that could wait until they were alone.

Elizabeth pulled out of Jason's embrace and turned back towards Mac. "Can I tell you what happened so that I can leave? I really want to get out of here."

Mac led the way to the interrogation room upstairs. He wasn't going to let Jason in the room, but with Elizabeth's plea's he finally gave in. Jason stood behind her chair as she recounted what happened when the man showed up at her cell. His hands clenched into fists hearing the ordeal she was put through because of the Escobar, Alcazar, and Lucky.

She even mentioned what the man said about Lucky. She thought it might have something to do with a case he was put on. Jason knew better and by the confusion on Mac's face, he knew that Mac would find out that Lucky wasn't working on a case.

"I'm sorry this happened to you. I am going to investigate this personally and will not stop until I find out who allowed him access to the keys and uniform. The paperwork for your release is almost done, I'll send an officer in with your belongings so you can change and then you can leave."

"Thank you."

Once Mac was out the door, Jason walked around the table to take the seat Mac had just occupied. "Are you ok?"

"I'm better." She smiled. "I know I've said this about a thousand times already, but thank you. I know," holding up her hand when he was about to interrupt, Elizabeth continued. "I know that there is a lot to talk about, but can we just wait until I am out of here?"

"I was going to say the same thing." He chuckled.

"There is one thing that I have to ask, though." At his nod, Elizabeth took in a deep breath, bracing herself for the truth. "Who killed Alexis?"

Looking away, Jason clenched his jaw. He knew he was going to have to tell her, but it didn't make it easier. Looking her straight in the eyes, Jason answered her. "Sam killed Alexis."

"What?" Her brow was furrowed in confusion. Leaning back in her chair, Elizabeth stared at Jason with disbelief.

"It's a long story and you have every right to hear it. I'll explain everything, I promise. Just know that Sam is being arrested right now for what she did."

"You didn't know." It wasn't a question. She spoke with sympathy and Jason couldn't believe that after everything she was put through with being arrested and assaulted, she was trying to comfort him. He stared down at her hand that was now covering his and turned his hand over to clasp it.

"No."

"I'm sor—"

"No, _I'm_ the one that's sorry." His gruff voice interrupted. "Sam killed Alexis and let you take the blame for it. I'm the one who should be apologizing. You've gone through hell because of her…"

"Jason." Her soft voice caused him to look up at her. "It's not your fault."

A police officer walked in with Elizabeth's belongings cutting off the conversation. Looking back at Jason, a soft smile on her lips, she gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "We'll talk about it later."


	9. Chapter 9

**Part Nine**

She felt a chill run through her when she entered the apartment. It wasn't cold inside, was hardly even cold outside, but yet, she was shivering.

This was her home, the place where she had built a life with the man she loved and her son. And now, after all that had happened, it was just another place where her stuff was kept.

It happened to her every time she became too content. She would settle in, find comfort and love with someone, feel as if she was finally at peace, and then… and then it would all fall apart right before her eyes. She took so long to build her life up every time she gave herself the chance to hope and each time it wouldn't even take half that amount of time to be destroyed.

The first time this happened to her was the night she thought Lucky had died when they were teenagers. After being raped the year before, it took her so long to build her life up again, to experience hope. She had hoped that she and Lucky would be together forever, hoped that the nightmares would stop—and they did for a time because of Lucky. He helped her find a reason for living again, and being so young; she made her reason for living him. Everything was right with her again when he was taken from her. In a couple of hours she went from dreaming of their time together to falling to the ground when she realized he was gone forever.

And the cycle continued on from there.

She then found a friend in Jason. With him, she could do and say anything that she wanted. She didn't have to censure herself with him. He just listened to her, and in his own way, always helped her sort through her own thoughts and figure out exactly what she had to do. She began to hope again, began to build her life again. And then he left.

He rode out of her life just when she was becoming something with him, just when she felt that she could just…be.

And so the cycle continued. Lucky came back as some type of miracle, only to have lost his love for her. Jason came back; only for the two of them to mess up the chance they had completely by misunderstandings and miscommunication.

She finally thought she found something in Ric Lansing. They were happy for a while, truly happy. But he couldn't get over his vendetta against Sonny enough to be happy with _her_. She didn't even want to think about how he almost killed her or the fact that she even gave him another chance after that.

Only to have him prove he still couldn't put her first in his life.

Elizabeth might have given up at this point. What was the point in continuing to put her heart out there only to have it trampled on again? She should have stuck to that thought; she should have made a life for her and Cameron and never given her heart up again.

But she did.

She stupidly gave her heart back to Lucky. She chose to forget about everything that warned her to keep her heart safe, locked away from everyone but her son. Not only did she give her heart out blindly, but she also gave out her trust and faith. She gave Lucky everything she had to give. They were so happy for a while.

And the one time she needed him to prove to her that she didn't make a mistake by putting her faith on the line… again, he failed miserably.

How could someone claim to love someone, and not have any faith in that person? She all but knocked Lucky upside the head with her vow that she didn't kill Alexis, and not only did he _not_ believe her, but he lied about it in the beginning. He made her think that he believed her only to admit at the worst possible moment that he didn't believe her.

These past couple of days was some of the hardest days she had to endure and she couldn't even count on her husband.

Elizabeth glanced around her apartment with a look of indifference. She looked at the couch, didn't feel the flutter in her stomach she used to feel when she looked upon it, knowing that she shared that couch with her husband and made beautiful love with him. It no longer represented that to her. She didn't even know what it represented anymore.

She just didn't know how to get past the hurt and the lies and knowing that the man who should have been on her side wasn't.

The sound of the door closing made her jump then frown. All she wanted to do was get a couple of things and then go back to her son. She had already stopped in to see her Grams at the hospital to make sure the older woman was ok and was on her way back to her Grams house to be with her son whom was being watched by one of Jason's guards when she realized she had no clothes at her Grams house. She reluctantly headed back to her apartment to get some things and had lingered too long.

And now she was going to have to face the one person she didn't want to even look at at the moment.

"Elizabeth."

The sound of his voice used to send a thrill through her, now it made her tense and clench her hands into fists.

She turned around slowly and faced her husband.

"I just heard you were let out. Why didn't you call me?" The concern on his face made her eyes narrow. Where was this concern when she was stuck in a cell being framed for a murder she didn't commit? Where was this concern when she was being attacked because of something he had done?

She ignored his question. "I'm supposed to give you a message. Well, _I'm_ not really supposed to give you the message, but it's all the same."

He stepped closer to her, she backed away. "Elizabeth, wha…what are you talking about?"

She shrugged her shoulders. Although she was shaking inside, her demeanor on the outside was cool and calm. "Someone named Escobar sent a man to kill me." She looked away from him, struggling to keep her tears under control. Just thinking about what happened earlier made her skin crawl. "It was supposed to be a message to you." Her throat was aching but her voice never wavered. "What does that mean, Lucky?"

"What happened? Are you ok?"

He tried to move closer to her but she wouldn't let him near her. She threw her hands up to make him stop his approach to her. Her voice was firm, her eyes hard. "What is going on with this Escobar person?"

His expression was one of hurt when he finally stopped trying to get near her. He looked away, his Adams apple bobbing as he swallowed several times. She could just see his mind working on some type of excuse.

"We've been having some problems with Escobar and I was put on a case to tail him. Something happened and I—"

"That's a lie and you know it."

He threaded his fingers through his hair, desperate to find a way to make her anger go away. They had so much to talk about and he didn't want to start with admitting what he was really doing. He had to get her to think about something…

She interrupted his thoughts. "At first, when I was really able to think much about it, I really did think that this had something to do with your job. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about Mac's questions when he asked me about what happened when I was attacked, I started to realize that this had nothing to do with you being a cop."

"You were attacked at the police station."

She ignored him. "You're caught up in something, Lucky. Tell me what's going on."

"I don't know—"

"My Grams is in the hospital, Cameron was almost kidnapped and the both of us could have been killed by now! What have you done?"

His shoulders slumped as defeat took over. None of this was supposed to happen. All he needed was some money to pay for all of his bills and he ended up killing a man. Shaking his head, Lucky looked away from her, not able to look her in the eye. "I've been working for Alcazar." He paused to glance at her. Her face was blank, unreadable for him to decide what she was thinking.

"I just needed some money to pay for my hospital bills. I was only supposed to give him information and help him in case any of his men were arrested. But he offered me more money to do some more work for him. At one of the jobs I was almost caught by Escobar's enforcer and I had to kill him. I didn't…" he stopped when she closed her eyes, threading her fingers through her hair. When she still didn't look at him he decided to finish. "I swear to you Elizabeth, I didn't know they found out it was me. I would have..."

"You would have what, Lucky? You would have told me? You would have warned me that there could be men after me and my son?" Disgust laced her questions. "You've lied to me; put my son in danger, and all for what? For some damn pride? All you had to do was talk to Nicholas but you chose to work for Alcazar instead."

She couldn't stand there anymore and look at him; she couldn't stay in that apartment for another minute. It was all too much too soon.

Walking around the back of the couch to stay as far away from him as possible, Elizabeth made her way for the door, forgetting about getting the things she went there for. She was stopped before she could make it to the door when Lucky wrapped his hand around her upper arm.

His touch startled her so much that she spun around quickly, knocking his hand away. The hurt in his eyes did nothing to ease her anger.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to my son."

"Aren't you going to bring him home?"

"Home?" She whispered. "What home, Lucky? I don't have a _home_."

"You have a home with me." He slapped his hand against his chest, and tired once more to touch her with his other hand only to have her back away from him again. "You, me, and Cameron, this" he motioned around the apartment, "This is our home."

She was shaking her head before he finished. "This used to be my home with you and Cameron. But that was before you lied to me and didn't believe in me."

"I've tried to tell you that with the evid—"

"I am so tired of listening to you! You didn't believe in me, you didn't have _faith_ in me. What kind of love do we have if we don't have faith and trust?"

Without saying anymore, she turned around and reached for the door. She was just stepping outside when his anguished whisper met her. "I won't give up on you, Elizabeth."

Her back stiffened, but she didn't look back. She couldn't. "Don't bother, our marriage is over."

The door caught as she tried to close it. She still didn't look back even though she knew he was standing right behind her, holding the door so she wouldn't close it.

"I love you." Her eyes stung at hearing the tears in his voice. No matter how mad she was at him, how much she knew she couldn't stay in this marriage, it still hurt.

She took one more moment to compose herself before she continued walking. "I'll have Justus right up the divorce papers and send them to you right away."

And then she left.

Walking away from one more thing in her life that only proved that it hurt too much to hope.

* * *

Jason stared up at the building, hesitating before entering, not knowing why he was there but knowing that he _had_ to be there.

Taking in a deep breath, he walked into the PCPD.

It was only hours before when he went there to see Elizabeth and tell her that it was finally over when he found her being attacked by one of Escobar's men, and now he was back.

He didn't want to be there, didn't want to see the woman who was now behind bars for the murder of Alexis Lansing. But for some reason, he felt like he had to be there.

After going through the procedure of being checked in, Jason made his way to the interrogation room where Sam was being held. He was told that he would have to wait because she already had someone in there with her. Looking into the window that gave a view of the interrogation room, Jason saw Sam sitting there with her hands handcuffed to the table—a position he was very familiar with—and Ric standing in front of her, the table between them.

He could see the slump in the mans shoulders, and no matter how much he hated Ric, he still didn't think the man deserved to have his wife murdered. He didn't think Ric deserved to have Alexis as a wife, but that was another matter. But he could see the dejection in Ric's stance and knew that he was going through a lot of pain.

He stopped short when he saw Sam.

She was smiling.

She was looking up at Ric with a huge smile on her face like she didn't have a care in the world.

Like she didn't kill her mother and let the blame fall on Elizabeth.

He knew right that moment that she was not the woman he thought she was.

The woman sitting in that interrogation room was not the same woman he fell in love with. She was a stranger.

Or maybe she was always a stranger.

Their whole life together had been one major event right after another. First she lost the baby and they began to grieve for her child and grow close. She then became obsessive with getting another baby and they had some obstacles there. Then there was Michaels kidnapping and him loosing his memory and then the virus and her loosing her brother and now this. It was just one thing right after the other and though she was with him through all of it, it wasn't like it was just the two of them, getting to know each other, love each other.

Maybe he never really _knew_ Sam.

Scrubbing his hands over his face, Jason sighed and turned around. It didn't matter now. She was going to jail for killing Alexis and that was the end of it.

It still hurt, though. To try and build a life with her only to find out that she wasn't the strong, independent, loving woman he thought her to be. The only woman he knew who was truly like that was Elizabeth.

He just reached his motorcycle when that thought ran through him. It wasn't safe, what his thoughts were turning to.

Going _there_ was not an option.

But he still wanted to see her, to make sure she was ok. He stood there, right by his bike contemplating whether or not he should go and see her. It was his phone ringing that made the decision for him.

"Hello?"

"Jason, it's me. I…" there was a pause on the other end and what sounded like a sniff. "I really need to see you right now."

"I'll be right there."

* * *

He raised his hand to knock on the door but didn't get a chance to when it was slowly opened. He titled his head to the side when she peaked up at him through a curtain of hair.

"Hey," he said softly, not knowing what to say at that moment.

"I'm sorry, I just… I thought I wanted to be alone with Cameron but…" Elizabeth closed her eyes as a fresh wave of tears began to spill past her lashes. She couldn't finish and she didn't have to.

She was shaking when he took her into his arms and stepped inside her Grandmothers house. He rubbed her back as he let her cry, knowing that he couldn't say anything to ease her pain.

She rubbed her nose against his shirt and slightly grasped his shirt where her hand lay on his chest. Taking in a deep breath, she tried to explain. "I went to my apartment to get some things and then Lucky showed up. We fought for a while and then I told him our marriage was over."

Jason's arms tightened around her when her voice broke. But she still continued. "I came back here and thought that I just wanted to be alone with Cameron. We were playing and everything was going so well. But I realized…"

His hand stopped stroking her back as he waited for her to go on. He didn't know why, but he couldn't seem to breathe.

"I realized that I needed you."

His breath left him in one loud swoosh.

Her arms slipped around his waist as she moved closer, hugging him to her tighter. "Just being near you makes me fell safe. You make everything better."

His eyes closed.

"I just…" words were hard to explain what she needed, how she felt. "I just needed _you_."

When he kissed her forehead then pulled her tighter against him, holding her like she needed, Elizabeth realized that she didn't need words to explain.

Jason understood her without them.


	10. Chapter 10

**Part Ten**

She was out of her mind.

Her hand moved fast against the canvas before her, paint splattered against her cheek. What was she thinking? She wasn't thinking. That was what the problem was. It had been two months since she was released from jail and left Lucky. It had been two months since she decided that she was going to play it safe and give up on hope.

But now she was acting all crazy again.

Damn emotions and… and _feelings_, she thought disgustingly. Her hand moved faster.

They always got in the way and made her think crazy things.

Dropping the paintbrush on the workbench next to her, Elizabeth covered her face with her hands, unintentionally rubbing more paint across her cheek and forehead.

She was finally moving past everything that happened. Being framed for the murder of her ex-husbands wife, and getting another divorce was stressful and hard on her. But she was finally coming to a place where she could move on from that, move past it.

It had been hard and trying and Lord knows she shed many tears since she was released, but she got through it.

And all because of Jason.

He was always her rock, the one person she could lean on the most. When she needed him, he was right there if not a phones call away. He was the one person who helped her make it through these past two months with her head held high.

And now he was driving her out of her mind.

Well, she sighed, deciding to be honest with her self. _He_ wasn't driving her out of her mind. Jason was wonderful. But it was the fact that he was so wonderful that was causing her to go nuts. She wasn't supposed to be feeling these things, she had warned herself against that when she walked away from Lucky. Being with anyone was no longer an option for her. Her heart couldn't take it anymore.

Which was why she was out of her mind for constantly thinking of Jason.

The more she spent time with him, the more he came to her rescue and just listened to her or held her when she needed him, the more she started to see him in a new light.

He was so wonderful with Cameron. When he wasn't there, Cameron would ask her for him. At one point she was grateful that her son was asking for Jason, this way she had an excuse to be around him and not make it seem like she was pathetic and needed him near.

Looking at her painting with a frown, Elizabeth decided that this one was just not worth saving. It had been a while since she painted in her old studio, but with all the pent up emotion after leaving Lucky and being set free, she had decided that she needed something to help her work through her problems… other than crying. So she had rented out her studio again and picked up a paintbrush for the first time in years, and it had worked.

Canvas after canvas stood propped up against the wall in her studio. She was really doing some amazing work.

Until she started to realize she was out of her mind.

Great, she groaned, it always went back to Jason.

Why did he have to be so damn wonderful?

As if she was being punished by someone up above who was getting great pleasure in seeing her suffer—she bet it was her great Aunt Cathy from her mom's side; that woman never liked her—there was a knock on the door and Jason poked his head in.

"Am I bothering you?"

"No." Elizabeth reassured with a smile, "Not at all. I was just deciding to trash this."

Jason stepped fully into the studio. He squinted and when he still couldn't tell what was on the canvas, he shrugged. "You've been up her for a long time and I thought you could use a break. Do you want to go to Kelly's and get some lunch?"

"That sounds great."

She quickly began to clean up her work area and when she was finished she straightened to see Jason looking at her with an amused grin.

"What?"

"You've got some paint," he gestured to his own cheek, "on your face."

She laughed. "I tend to get messy when I paint while thinking." She used the back of her hand and started to brush away the wrong side of her face as she rambled on. "I paint to forget, but I couldn't stop thinking today and so my painting turned out to be a disaster and now I'm a mess."

Jason was still smiling at her.

"There's still some on my face isn't there?"

"Just a little," he lied. It was all over her right cheek and forehead. She went to swipe at her face again when he grabbed a damp towel. "Here," he said softly. "Let me."

Elizabeth stood as stiff as a board as he gently cupped her chin and began to wipe the paint away. His eyes were watching his hand, but he finally looked into her eyes and stopped moving.

Elizabeth stopped breathing.

His hand holding the towel moved away from her face, his gaze lowered to her mouth. Swallowing, Elizabeth closed her eyes when she saw Jason's head dip towards hers. She waited a breathless moment before his warm mouth settled on top of hers.

In the back of her mind she was yelling at herself that this was crazy, _she_ was crazy. But she didn't care. Not when one simple kiss was making her feel so good.

Jason tilted her head to the side and was about to deepen the kiss when a grumbling noise caused him to pull back slightly. He looked down at her and saw her cheeks quickly turning red.

Her gaze locked with the floor when she whispered. "I'm really hungry."

His laughter caused her head to snap back up. His thumb caressed her cheek as he once more placed a kiss against her mouth. He pulled back, smiled. "Let's get you something to eat."

* * *

Jason couldn't stop thinking about their kiss. It had been two days since he kissed her and for two days he couldn't think of anything else, which really sucked since he was doing a stake out for Sonny.

When he glanced around him and saw that no one was coming, he allowed himself to think about the kiss some more. Lunch that day had been as normal as ever. When they left the studio and walked to Kelly's holding hands, he thought that he had just made things awkward. But he was wrong. They talked and laughed and basically had a good time during lunch.

There was only an uncomfortable moment when Lucky walked in and spotted them. Elizabeth had lost her smile for only a brief moment but then looked back at Jason and continued her story about Cameron. Her smile was still sincere, she hadn't been faking.

Lucky had walked by there table without saying a word, it might have been due to the glare Jason had given him that basically said come near her and die, but that was neither here nor there.

It was during lunch that Jason got the call that Sonny needed him to leave for a couple of days to 'tie up some loose ends' and after being reassured by Elizabeth that she was going to be ok several times, Jason left.

Saying goodbye was the awkward part. He had walked her back to her studio and made sure for one last time that she was going to be fine. They stood there for a while, looking at the other. He hadn't known what he should have done. He stared at her for a bit wondering if he should kiss her goodbye.

It finally came down to him nodding once, her nodding once, a polite goodbye and then Jason leaning forward and kissing her on the cheek. If he hadn't walked away so quickly then he would have seen the disappointment on her face.

Scrubbing his hands over his face, Jason checked his phone for the fourth time in under an hour to make sure that Elizabeth hadn't called. He knew he couldn't accept any of her calls because he was working, but he was still disappointed that she hadn't called.

He had gotten so used to being around her and Cameron that when he wasn't around her he needed to be. For the past two months, they had spent almost every day together and for the first time in a long time Jason was truly happy. He looked forward to her calls, even if he only spent the evening holding her while she soaked his shirt with her tears. At least he could be there for her.

But what he loved the most was spending time with her in the studio, or being with her and Cameron playing in the park. Cameron was really growing on him and if he wasn't careful, Jason was sure he was going to become really attached to the kid.

Ah hell, who was he kidding, Jason was already attached.

To the both of them.

He honestly didn't think that this was going to happen or so quickly, but he was realizing that it didn't matter. All that mattered was being around Elizabeth and Cameron.

Jason was so caught up in thought that he almost missed the man going into the warehouse. This was it, he thought; time to get some much needed revenge.

Seven minutes later, Jason quickly left the warehouse dialing Sonny's number. The phone was picked up on the first ring as Jason drove away. "It's done; Escobar's no longer a problem."

* * *

Elizabeth watched as her son played with the new remote control car Jason had gotten him. Ever since Cameron watched the move Cars he was obsessed with everything and anything that had to do with the cars from the movie. After mentioning to Jason how much Cameron loved the movie, the wonderful man came the next day with a remote controlled Mater truck. He was going to spoil her son.

One look at the joy on Cameron's face as the bucked tooth truck drove all over her living room and Elizabeth decided that she didn't care. Hearing her sons beautiful giggle was all that it took to make Elizabeth's heart melt. They were both going to spoil her son.

Turning her attention away from Cameron, Elizabeth looked at her phone again. Should she call him? He told her that he most likely wouldn't be able to answer her call, but she could always leave a message and he would call her as soon as possible.

But what would she say? She didn't really need him for anything. Would 'Hey Jason, this is Elizabeth. I just wanted to say… hey and that I miss you and I figured that hearing your voice on your voicemail would help me get through until you were back' be a good message?

Yeah, she rolled her eyes. Because hearing 'This is Jason, leave a message' was enough to hold her over.

Nuts. She was going absolutely nuts.

Picking up the throw pillow next to her, Elizabeth slammed it against her face and silently screamed into the pillow.

A knock on the door had her dropping it quickly, like she had done something wrong. Standing up from the couch, Elizabeth glanced at her son and smiled when he jumped out of the way and laughed as Mater drove straight at his feet. She straightened her shirt and opened the door.

Her heartbeat quickened when she saw Jason standing there, one side of his mouth hooked upwards.

She stared at him for a moment, not knowing what to say. A simple 'hey' just didn't seem right at the moment. But as it turned out, she didn't need to say anything.

Jason's mouth covering hers kind of made saying hello quite difficult.

She heard the door close as he wrapped his arms around her, slanting his mouth over hers again and again. She tugged on his hair when his tongue slid past her lips and touched hers.

Oh yeah, he really knew how to say hello.

Elizabeth was all but melted in his arms when he pulled back and smiled down at her. "I missed you." He said.

Before she could say anything in return, she heard the remote control truck stop.

"Jason!" Cameron yelled as he dropped his remote and ran to the man who had now all but set her aside to catch Cameron.

"Hey buddy." Jason scooped him up. "You playing with your new toy?"

Cameron nodded enthusiastically as he wiggled to get down and grasped onto Jason's hand to lead him to his car.

Elizabeth watched with a frown on her face, practically glaring at Jason's back. How dare he? First, he kisses her at her studio and they spend yet another wonderful afternoon together eating lunch. Then he leaves her—which she was ok with because she knew he needed to for work—but he only kissed her on the cheek. She had spent the last three nights worrying if he had regretted the spur of the moment kiss and was trying to let her off easy by kissing her cheek.

And then this? He comes to her new apartment and kisses her senseless and acts like everything is a-ok?

What the hell was he doing to her?

She was just deciding to act like nothing happened, to act as nonchalant as he was when he looked up at her and winked. Oh who was she kidding? She couldn't act like it was just a normal kiss. Not when he winked at her and gave her a look like there was more kisses to come.

Well, he could wink at her and kiss her all he wanted, she gave herself a mental nod, she was still going to play it safe. It wouldn't hurt to kiss him, she liked it so much. But she was not going to give her heart out again. She had to protect herself.

"Mommy, look!" Her son's gleeful laughter caught her attention. Elizabeth walked towards her two men, one little and one so sexy and smiled as her son showed her another trick he could do with Mater. It consisted of the truck running into the wall over and over.

She laughed and looked at Jason, who was kneeling near Cameron, helping him with the controls. He looked up at her, a sparkle in his eyes.

Dammit, she thought. He was going to make it real hard for her to keep in her safety zone if kept looking at her like that.

He stood, wrapped one arm around her waist and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Hell," she muttered under her breath but knew Jason heard her when he smiled knowingly at her.

Jason already had her heart.

**The End**

* * *

**A/N:** _I just want to thank all of you for sticking with me through this story. When I first started this, I had all the chapters planned out and knew exactly what I wanted to do, but with each chapter I wrote, something got changed and I realized that it wasn't going to be an easy story to write, or as easy as I wanted it to be. So thanks for sticking with me while I figured it out. :)_

_Those of you who have replied, I thank you so so much. At the risk of sounding really cheesy, your feedback has been my driving force to continue to write. So I thank you again._

_I realize that there may be some unanswered questions, like what happened with Manny, and how long Sam was convicted for and so on. But I did that on purpose. It gives me the opportunity to leave this story open for a sequel. I really enjoyed writing the suspense (if there was much) of this story because it is really different from my other stories and some time in the future, I would like to tap into that again._

_I hope you have all enjoyed this story and I thank you again for sticking with me!_


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